Smelling sweeping win, Merkel pledges nation 4 more good years

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives are on course to win a historic absolute majority in Sunday’s election, according to a projection based on exit polls and some results from broadcaster ARD.
The win will be an overwhelming endorsement for a third term as Merkel’s Free Democratic ally plunged out of Parliament, probably forcing her to seek a new governing partner, television projections showed.
The projection put Merkel’s conservatives on 42.5 percent, a whisker over the combined total for the left parties who together scored 41.6 percent.
The last time a German party won an absolute majority was in 1957 with conservative leader Konrad Adenauer.
The projection showed Merkel’s Free Democrat (FDP) allies and the anti-euro Alternative for Germany (AfD) just failing to clear the 5 percent threshold needed to enter the Bundestag lower house.
Chancellor Merkel hailed her conservative bloc’s victory in Germany's national election on Sunday as an excellent result but said it was too early to discuss plans for the next government.
“This is a super result,” Merkel told cheering supporters after television exit polls showed her Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) winning 42 to 42.5 percent of the vote.
“We will do all we can in the next four years together to make them successful years for Germany. It is too early to say how we will proceed but today we should celebrate.”
Her centre-left rival Peer Steinbrueck, whose Social Democrats (SPD) came in second place on around 26 percent, said it was for Merkel to decide now what a future government will look like.
Merkel’s conservatives winning an absolute majority means they would need no coalition partners, estimates by two public television stations said after elections Sunday.
Based on votes counted one hour after ballots closed, Merkel's party would win 304 out of 606 seats in the lower house of parliament, ZDF public television reported. ARD TV results also pointed to a narrow absolute majority.
Merkel says her conservatives will do everything to make the next four years successful for Germany after what appears to be a triumphant election win.
ARD and ZDF television projections Sunday showed a wide lead for Merkel’s conservative Union bloc over challenger Peer Steinbrueck’s Social Democrats. Merkel told supporters: “This is a super result.”
But Merkel’s coalition partners for the past four years, the pro-business Free Democrats, were in danger of losing their seats in Parliament.
That means it’s uncertain who Merkel can govern Germany with in a third four-year term.
Steinbrueck said his party didn’t achieve the result it expected. He said: “The ball is in Ms. Merkel’s court. She has to get herself a majority.”