Chancellor Angela Merkel was strongly favoured to win a third term at the helm of Europe’s biggest economy as Germans voted in a national election Sunday, but the popular conservative’s hopes of governing with centre-right allies for another four years were in the balance.
Nearly 62 million people were eligible to elect the lower house of Parliament, which in turn chooses the chancellor.
Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and its Bavaria-only sister, the Christian Social Union, appeared likely to emerge as the strongest force and fend off a challenge from centre-left rival Peer Steinbrueck. But beyond that, things may get more complicated.
No single party has won a majority in Germany in more than 50 years. Merkel would like to continue governing with her partner of choice, the pro-business Free Democratic Party — but polls have shown support for the smaller party fading from nearly 15 per cent in the 2009 election to around the 5 per cent needed to keep any seats in Parliament.
Merkel pleaded Saturday for “a strong mandate so that I can serve Germany for another four years, make policies for ... a strong Germany, for a country that is respected in Europe, that works for Europe; a country that stands up for its interests in the world but is a friend of many nations.”
Her party has rebuffed calls from leading Free Democrats for Merkel supporters to back them, saying it has no votes to spare. Polls show the coalition in a dead heat with a combination of Steinbrueck’s Social Democrats, their Green allies and the hard-line Left Party — but the two centre-left parties have ruled out an alliance with the latter.