(Worthy News) – German voters delivered Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats a fourth consecutive term and the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party a spot in the parliament in Sunday’s federal election, which was widely seen as a referendum on Ms. Merkel’s performance over the past 12 years.
Ms. Merkel’s jubilance over her re-election will be short-lived, as she now must piece together a coalition of widely disparate parties that can propel her Eurocentric, economy-driven mandate — an almost herculean task, given that a far-right nationalist party is entering parliament for the first time since shortly after the end of World War II. The AfD will be Germany’s third-largest party, having won 12.7 percent of the vote, according to early returns with about 95 percent of the vote counted.
Major Jewish groups expressed alarm Sunday over AfD’s electoral success, while France’s far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, congratulated the German nationalist party. [ Source (Read More…) ]