Merkel says she will seek fourth term as German chancellor
Angela Merkel announced on Sunday she wants to run for a fourth term as German chancellor in next year's election, a sign of stability after Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president. Reuters reports.
The 62-year old conservative, facing a voter backlash over her open-door migrant policy, said she had thought long and hard before eventually deciding to stand again in the September election, ending months of speculation over her decision.
"The decision for a fourth term is - after 11 years in office - anything but trivial - for the country, the party and, I say it consciously in this order, for me personally," she told reporters, striking a serious, almost somber, tone.
An Emnid poll on Sunday showed that some 55 percent of Germans want Merkel, Germany's eighth chancellor since World War Two, to serve a fourth term, with 39 percent against, indicating that despite setbacks, she is still an electoral asset.
Notably the elections will be held in the autumn of 2017.