Merkel Achieves Historic Third-Term Election Victory
Local Editor
Angela Merkel achieved a historic third-term election victory in Germany on Sunday night, having led her conservatives to their best result in more than 20 years.
Merkel's Christian Democratic Union and its sister party won 41.5% of the vote, but her liberal partners failed to make it into parliament. Analysts called the win a personal victory for the 59-year-old, who is now on track to overtake Margaret Thatcher as Europe's longest-serving female leader.
"Together we will do everything in the next four years to again make them successful years for Germany," Merkel said on Sunday.
On Saturday, during a rally in the capital Berlin, Merkel told the crowd of Christian Democrats to start gathering support from Germans again.
"I am personally appealing to the Germans: grant me a strong mandate so I can serve Germany for another four years," said Merkel.
It is thought she is likely to seek a grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) who won 26%.
The results showed that the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) won only 4.8%, which correspondents say is a disaster for the junior coalition partner, leaving it with no national representation in parliament for the first time in Germany's post-war history.
Party chairman Philipp Roesler called it "the bitterest, saddest hour of the Free Democratic Party".
The FDP was beaten by the Green Party (8.4%) and the former communist Left Party (8.6%). It almost finished behind the new Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD), which advocates withdrawal from the euro currency and took 4.7%, just short of the parliamentary threshold.
Earlier last week, a poll showed that nearly one in two Greeks believe that re-election of German Chancellor Angela Merkel would have negative consequences on their country.
The Public Issue opinion poll published Friday by the Greek daily Kathimerini revealed that 47 percent of those questioned said that the consequences of a win by Merkel in next week's elections would be "somewhat negative."
The survey also showed that a vast majority, 79 percent, said they have a negative opinion of Merkel, who has insisted on tough austerity conditions for Greece.
In addition, three-quarters of those questioned said their overall view of Germany is negative, up from 66 percent registered in May 2011.
Germany is the biggest contributor to Greece's bailout packages, who has received 250 billion euros (USD 338 billion) in rescue loans since 2010.
Source: Websites, edited by website team
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