Angela Merkel has won a second term in the 622 seated parliament, the Bundestag after her party, the CDU, routed the Social Democrats. She will be the first woman to win re-election as leader of Germany. Today's election is special since Germans have renewed Merkel's mandate to serve as their Chancellor for the second time after elections in 2005. According to Deutche Welle, German public broadcaster, Merkel's CDU along with CSU have secured 239 seats in the lower house. The liberal Free Democrats Party led by Guido Westerwelle have gained significant seats in Bundestag. The FDP has captured 93 seats while the Social Democrats (SPD) won 146, the worst since World War II. Interestingly, the leftist party, Die Linke, made significant gains by winning 76 seats and the Green Party has captured 68.
The mandate proves that Germany has a succesful democratic system with a woman winning re-election for the first time in the nation's history and Merkel can focus on implementing economic reforms without sharing power with the SPD. Political analysts predict a coalition between the CDU/CSU and the FDP. This new alliance will ensure Merkel's success in solving Germany morbid economy by encouraging business-friendly polices.
For more information, go to:
http://www.dw-world.de/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,651610,00.html
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Certainly the recent elections represent some important developments for Germany. The increases on both the left and the right (at the expense of the middle, esp the SPD) remind me a bit of the Weimar period and the polarization of German politics. That said, I also think that the economic situation perhaps influences the vote as Germans express their convictions for how the crisis could best be resolved.
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