A far-right anti-immigration party to gain seats in the national parliament for first time since Nazi Germany.
BERLIN — Germans handed Chancellor Angela Merkel a historic fourth term at the helm of Europe’s economic engine Sunday, after she shepherded the country through multiple crises over the past 12 years.
Her main challenger, the Social Democrats‘ Martin Schulz, conceded shortly after the polls closed. With nearly two-thirds of the ballots counted, Merkel’s conservative bloc would finish first with 39.5% of the vote.
Her main challenger, the Social Democrats‘ Martin Schulz, conceded shortly after polls closed: Early returns showed Merkel’s conservative bloc would finish first, with 39.5% of the vote, with almost two-thirds of the ballots counted.
The Social Democrats garnered 25.3%, according to early returns released by the government.
But in a sign of disapproval with Merkel’s open-door refugee policy that started in 2015, voters propelled the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party into the national parliament with 10.6% of the vote, according to the early returns.
It is the first time since shortly after Nazi Germany that a far-right party will hold seats in the Bundestag.
Merkel, appearing before supporters chanting „Angie!,“ claimed a mandate to form a coalition government with her conservative Christian Democratic Union party. She also vowed to win back voters from the AfD.
While the country’s top job is all but certain, the makeup of the government coalition — which will determine the direction of this central European country — is anything but.
„This election is certainly not boring,“ said Thomas Petersen, a researcher at the Allensbach Institute, a Berlin think tank. „But the music is in the smaller parties.“
Will Germany tilt right? Will it become more pro-business? Or will it soften its stance on hot-button issues such as jobs and refugees by moving left? Will voters opt for the status quo?
Analysts attribute Merkel and her conservative Christian Democratic Union win as a referendum on the party’s success at navigating the euro crisis and other issues.
The Social Democrats, the country’s second-largest party, were being punished for their cooperation with the conservatives, analysts said. Governing with Merkel’s Christian Democrats for eight of the past 12 years, the party said it will be the opposition and not enter into another so-called grand coalition.
The pro-business, almost libertarian Free Democrats won 10.5% of Sunday’s vote, after being thrown out of power four years ago, according to the exit polls. Germany’s environmentalist Green Party and the socialist party, the Left Party, won 9% each.
The 4-year-old AfD, which espouses a strong anti-Islam stance, was created as the anti-euro party following the financial crisis. The party gained support after Merkel opened the doors in 2015 to more than a million refugees, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, sparking fears in Germany over terrorism and a threat to its culture.
The AfD entered 13 out of 16 state parliaments since its founding, and some voters say it’s unthinkable it will enter the Bundestag in its first federal race.
„God forbid that the AfD will enter the Bundestag. it’s terrible that there’s even a possibility,“ said Ariele Amacher, 60, an executive secretary in Berlin. „They need to disappear as quickly as possible. They’re a risk for the future of our society.“
Analysts say it’s clear that voters want Merkel to continue to lead, not least because of the economic success of the past dozen years. In the early 2000s, the Economist magazine called Germany „the sick man of Europe.“ Today, unemployment is at historic lows, and the country’s economy is humming.
And in spite of criticism over bailing out Greece during the euro crisis, Merkel is hailed for leading Germany through it. While deep concerns over the refugees remain, her actions won her praise from even staunch critics on the left and center.
That’s because Germans like stability. They saw what happened when radical change entered politics, such as when Britain opted to leave the European Union in a referendum last year or when President Trump won in November.
„Germans like predictability. They don’t like change if they can avoid it and are hyper on the issue of instability,“ said Jackson Janes, president of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D. C. „With Merkel’s experience in dealing with strong-willed people outside of Germany, I think people came to feel she’s the best investment.“
Before Europe’s longest-serving, staunchly pro-European Union leader begins a historic fourth term — only Helmut Kohl served as long but that was over the former West Germany — she’ll be looking toward her legacy and facing challenges such Brexit. She’ll have to grapple with the integration of the refugees into German society and economy as it ages at one of the fastest rates in the world.
And she’ll face pressure to pledge to eliminate the combustion engine from Germany’s streets after the discovery that Volkswagen cheated on emissions reports, a scandal that has spread to other powerhouse carmakers, including BMW. The sector makes up a quarter of the German economy and provides hundreds of thousands of jobs.
„I’m not voting for Merkel, but it’s very clear that she’ll win, and that’s not the worst thing,“ said Lyudmilla Karkmann, 42, a homemaker who is voting for the Left Party because she believes more attention needs to be paid to the poor.
„My family and I have a very good life, and I think Merkel’s policies did bring us to this point.“
