Tag: afd

UPDATED: Merkel wins fourth term; hard right gains foothold in parliament

by Deborah Cole and Hui Min Neo Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – Chancellor Angela Merkel clinched a fourth term in Germany’s general election on Sunday, but her victory was clouded by the hard-right AfD party winning its first seats in parliament. Merkel, who after 12 years in power held a double-digit lead for most of the campaign, scored around 33 percent of the vote with her conservative Christian Union (CDU/CSU) bloc, according to […]

Merkel vows to ‘win back trust’ after defeat to anti-migrant party

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – by Frank ZELLER German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed Monday to “win back trust” of voters angered by her open-door refugee policy, while admitting her share of responsibility for her conservatives’ humiliating election loss to an anti-migrant party. “Everyone now needs to think about how we can win back trust — most of all, of course, myself,” Merkel said, speaking on the sidelines of a G20 summit in China a day after […]