Germany Election Results: Angela Merkel Wins Fourth Term as Chancellor, Far-Right Surprises Pollsters

Berlin, September 24: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday clinched the victory for the fourth time in a row. As per the latest trends, Merkel led the Christian Democratic Union was leading with

Updated: September 25, 2017 12:01 AM IST

By Ravi Kaushal | Edited by Ravi Kaushal

Germany Election Results: Angela Merkel Wins Fourth Term as Chancellor, Far-Right Surprises Pollsters
German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke on Afghanistan crisis. (File Photo)

Berlin, September 24: German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday clinched the victory for the fourth time in a row. As per the latest trends, Merkel led the Christian Democratic Union was leading with 33 percent of vote whereas the far-right populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) surprised the pollsters by bagging more than 13 percent votes. Final voting percent are likely to alter after the official results are announced.

Highlights

  • German Chancellor Angela Merkel clinched the victory for the fourth time in a row.
  • Social Democratic Party of Germany led by Martin Schulz succeeded in grabbing 20.8 percent.
  • Rightwing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) surprised the pollsters by bagging more than 13 percent votes.

Social Democratic Party of Germany led by Martin Schulz succeeded in grabbing 20.8 percent votes. Similarly, Free Democratic Party and Green Party too made their way to Parliament after getting 10.5 percent and 9.1 percent votes respectively.

AfD opposed the move of allowing settlement of immigrants of Syria and other affected countries. Many pollsters expected the party will enter the German parliament Bundestag by bagging six percent. but it made advances after Cologne attack.

Merkel, 63, whose campaign events were regularly disrupted by jeering AfD supporters, said in her final stump speech in the southern city of Munich that “the future of Germany will definitely not be built with whistles and hollers”.

Merkel, often called the most powerful woman on the global stage, ran on her record as a steady pair of hands in a turbulent world, warning voters not to indulge in “experiments”.

Pundits said Merkel’s reassuring message of stability and prosperity resonated in greying Germany, where more than half of the 61 million voters are aged 52 or older.

Her popularity had largely recovered from the influx since 2015 of more than one million mostly Muslim migrants and refugees, half of them from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

(With inputs from PTI)

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