Merkel to run for fourth term as German chancellor
Kate Brady
November 20, 2016
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has confirmed that she will stand for the chancellery in the 2017 election, German media reports. The Christian Democrat Leader (CDU) first took office in 2005.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/C.Rehder
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After months of speculation, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reportedly told her fellow Christian Democrats (CDU) in Berlin on Sunday that she is prepared to lead the party into next year's election.
An official statement is expected from Merkel at 7 p.m. local time (1800 UTC) on Sunday.
The 62-year-old has faced a number of difficulties in recent months, from criticism over her handling of the migration crisis to falling support amid a rise in right-wing populist sentiment.
Since taking office in 2005, however, Merkel has also been praised for navigating Europe's largest economy through the financial and eurozone crises.
According to an Emnid survey published in the German newspaper "Bild am Sonntag" 55 percent of Germans are in favor of Merkel remaining head of the German government for another four years. Thirty-nine percent said they were against her re-election.
Sign of stability
Should she be elected next September, another full four-year term would put Merkel on a par with her mentor Helmut Kohl who set the post-war record and presided over the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
US President Barack Obama praised Merkel on his recent visit to BerlinImage: Reuters/F. Bensch
In light of the UK's shock vote to leave the European Union in June and Donald Trump's election last week as US president, Merkel's re-election is likely to be welcomed in many capitals as a sign of stability.
In an interview with German magazine "Spiegel" and broadcaster "ARD," Obama said: "She has great credibility, and she is willing to fight for those values in a way that is very, very important."
"I'm glad that she's there and I think the German people should appreciate her. Certainly, I've appreciated her as a partner."
Formed as a Euro-sceptic party in 2013, the AfD won 4.7 percent of the popular vote in the last federal elections in 2013, just falling short of the 5 percent threshold required to enter the Bundestag - Germany's lower house of parliament.
After benefiting from the rise in europsceptic, anti-immigration sentiment, seemingly sweeping across western Europe, the party now holds seats in nine of Germany's 16 states.
The many faces of Angela Merkel
Rarely a day goes by without new images of Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel being published. Her official face is often serious, her governing style cautious. But some images show there is more to Merkel.
Image: dapd
The 'Merkel diamond'
Merkel has become known for using the same hand gesture at public appearances and in front of the camera, putting her fingertips together to form what some call the Merkel-rhombus – or in German, the "Merkel-Raute." If she has done so consciously or as a routine gesture out of habit is a question that have contemporary critics and journalists puzzled. Just what is she trying to say with it?
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Michael Kappeler
A European politician
The German chancellor is known for her commanding and engaged appearance, often appearing quite somber, especially in Europe. Though she has been known to crack a smile at the right time, here, at the recent European leaders summit in Bratislava, she was more composed. To her left is Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke and to her right, the Prime Minster of Belgium, Charles Michel.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Hoslet
Selfie with the chancellor
Merkel has come into the spotlight for her response to last year's influx of refugees.. Questions about her response to the crisis can be answered when elements of her personal life are considered, as Rinke does in his book. She frequently visits schools and refugee shelters and while doing so, takes time out for selfies, as here in 2015 with Syrian asylum applicant Anas Modamani in Berlin.
Image: Getty Images/S. Gallup
A juggler in the coalition
As chancellor and head of the CDU party, Merkel faces a bit of difficulty in remaining considerate with some of her working partners. She does not respond with the huffiness her SPD party colleague Sigmar Gabriel is known for. Against attacks by the head of CSU Bavaria, the "archetypical Bavarian man," Horst Seehofer, she responds with cool objectivity.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kumm
Curious about the digital age
For trained physicist Angela Merkel, the world of the internet and digital media is said to be relatively foreign, although her team does now have an Instagram account, which is fed by her official photographer. Still, that didn't stop her from grabbing the ear of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at a lunch meeting at the UN in 2015.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The preacher's daughter
The daughter of a Protestant minister, Merkel's values are said by Rinke to have been shaped by her Christian upbringing. In 2016, she was given a private audience with Pope Francis I at the Vatican, where the two exchanged words on their favorite books.
Image: Reuters/A. Pizzoli
A toast to friendly political relations
Merkel is not known to let it all hang out and, though rare due to her full schedule, celebrations are done in style. In 2013, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Élysee agreement between Germany and France, Merkel invited the entire parliament to toast the two countries' friendly relations over champagne.
Image: AP
A private chancellor
The chancellor gets only a few free vacation moments each year and even when on holiday, as here in Poland, she is not free from the prying eyes of the public. Her husband, Joachim Sauer, also pictured here, is rarely in the spotlight.
