German election; Angela Merkel wins fourth term

Nisaa FM:- Angela Merkel has secured a fourth term as German chancellor, after her conservative bloc secured the lead position in parliamentary elections, but failed to halt the march of rightwing populists.

Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, representing the Christian Democrats in CDU and the CSU sister party received 33 percent of the votes in Sunday's elections in Germany.

Social Democrats in the SPD receive 20.5 percent, while the EU and Immigration critical party, Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) get 12.6 percent of the votes.

The election victory was seen as a bittersweet one for Merkel, with her alliance having lost about 8% of the vote compared to the last election.       Meanwhile AfD was celebrating its progress, having secured 13% of the vote, marking the first time in almost six decades that an openly nationalist party will enter the Bundestag.

Many will explain AfD's progress with Merkel's handling of the refugee crisis in 2015, where hundreds of thousands of refugees entered the country.

"They would say, that if she had more feeling with the opinions of the German population and if she had handled the refugee crisis better, then AfD wouldn’t have progressed," says Michael Reiter.

Internationally, Merkel will also be weakened by the election results. Her influence on questions regarding the distribution of refugees in the EU will decrease, because many will use the election as evidence that she has handled the refugee crisis in 2015 incorrectly.

Source: Dr.dkThe guardian