Angela Merkel

Viktor Tsvetanov,

Correspondent (Europe)

 

BERLIN – Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union expectedly won the German elections with ‘a super result’ coming close to achieving a historic absolute majority in the German parliament. According to final results, Merkel’s conservative party took 42% of the vote. However, her partners from the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) did not go beyond the 5% barrier to make it into parliament, leaving Merkel just short of an absolute majority.

The election results indicate that the FDP had one of their worst performances on record gaining only 4.8%, which analysts describe as a disaster for Merkel’s junior coalition partner, leaving it with no national representation in the German parliament for the first time since 1949, reports the BBC. ‘This is the saddest, bitterest hour and our worst performance since 1949,’ admitted the FDP spokesman Christian Lindner.

Merkel responded to her win by saying, ’This is a super result’ and, ‘We can celebrate tonight because we have done something fantastic’. But she also added that it was it was ‘too early to say exactly what we’ll do’ concerning the incoming process of coalition building.

Merkel, whose party has secured 311 seats in the Bundestag with only five short of an absolute majority, now faces the prospect of leading a coalition government. Her major partners’ failure to secure parliament seats means that Merkel will still have to rely on a coalition, most likely with the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merkel, who is often referred to by Germans as ‘Mutti’ (‘Mummy’) due to her consistent protection of German interests in the European and global scene,  has already declared readiness to work in a grand coalition with the SPD, who achieved 26% of the vote.

Wolfgang Schäuble, Merkel’s Finance Minister, insisted that the result ensured that Germany would, ‘keep Europe together. We won’t do this by throwing our weight around; we will do it reliably and responsibly. We will remain reliable in the role of stability anchor and the growth motor of Europe. Germany continues to have an important leadership responsibility.’

Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons (User:Peter Weis)

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Viktor Tsvetanov

Viktor Tsvetanov

Viktor is Europe Correspondent for The Global Panorama and he is currently in the final year of his degree in Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. His main field of interest is European current affairs and EU politics.
Viktor Tsvetanov

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