Angela Merkel wins fourth term, while far-right gains seats in parliament

Germany voted to put a far-right party into parliament for the first time in half a century

Published September 24, 2017 5:31PM (EDT)

 (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
(AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

Chancellor Angela Merkel may have secured her fourth electoral win in Germany on Sunday, but the far-right party known as Alternative for Germany (AFD) won 13 percent of the vote, damaging Merkel's coalition in the Bundestag.

The anti-migrant ADF outperformed projections on Sunday and announced after the elections that it would investigate Merkel's handling of the refugee crisis. It was the first time Germany put a far-right party into parliament since the Second World War, according to Quartz.

Merkel's center-right party, the Christian Democratic Union, won 33 percent of the vote and maintains the largest bloc in parliament. The party did lose 8 percent of voters from the 2013 elections, however.

Merkel's main center-left rivals, the Social Democrats, received historic-low votes on Sunday. The party, which was the junior party to Merkel's "grand coalition," vowed to immediately abandon Merkel and become an opposition party.

Advertisement:

The Free Democratic Party, Germany's pro-business faction, won big on Sunday, reclaiming seats it lost in 2013. The Greens and the Left Party each won 9 percent of the vote respectively, meaning Merkel will be tasked to coalesce divergent groups.

The national German government has never seen a Free Democrats and Greens alliance, the AP reported.

AFD co-leader Alexander Gauland said that "we will take our country back" and pledged to "hunt" Merkel.

"This is a big day in our party's history. We have entered the Bundestag and we will change this country," Gauland said.

A celebration ensued at AFD headquarters following promising exit polls that showed the party performed better than expectations.


By Taylor Link

MORE FROM Taylor Link


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Angela Merkel Anti-immigration Coalition Far-right Germany Parliament Refugee Crisis