Merkel set for fourth term, far right to enter parliament for first time in post-war era

Merkel’s conservative bloc will be by far the largest parliamentary group, according to an exit poll for the ARD broadcaster.

Their closest rivals, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), slumped to 20 percent – a new post-war low – while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) finished in third place with 13.5 percent of the vote, securing its first seats in the Bundestag.

The anti-immigrant AfD's strong showing marks the first time a far-right party has entered the German parliament since the end of World War II.

Merkel must now form a coalition government – an arduous process that could take months as potential partners weigh whether they want to share power with her.

She struck a pragmatic tone when she spoke to supporters in Berlin shortly after initial results were announced. “Of course we had hoped for a slightly better result," Merkel said. "But we mustn’t forget that we have just finished an extraordinarily challenging legislative period, so I am happy that we reached the strategic goals of our election campaign."

“We are the strongest party; we have a mandate to build the next government – and there cannot be a coalition government built against us,” she added.

Her erstwhile partner, the SPD, announced that it was not interested in joining a coalition soon after exit poll results were released. Merkel's CDU has ruled with the SPD as its junior partner in a "grand coalition" marked by broad agreement on major topics, from foreign policy to migration.

Martin Schulz, SPD party leader and Merkel's main challenger, told the ZDF broadcaster: “We cannot have an extreme right-wing party leading the opposition in Germany, therefore ... we will go into opposition,” he said, adding: “Our role is quite clear: We are the opposition party.”

Merkel must therefore look to the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP), which staged a comeback to take 10.5 percent of the vote, as well as the Greens with their 9.5 percent.

As Europe’s longest-serving leader, Merkel now joins the late Helmut Kohl, her mentor who reunified Germany, and Konrad Adenauer, who led Germany’s rebirth after World War II, as the only post-war chancellors to win four national elections. The woman dubbed the "eternal chancellor" is now on track to match Kohl's impressive 16-year reign.

For many in the West, Merkel's victory comes as a relief in an increasingly turbulent world, with hopes high that she will serve as a cool-headed counterweight to both US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin as well as being a key EU ally to reformist French President Emmanuel Macron.

But the AfD's record election result is sure to bring a new set of challenges, as Germany and other Western nations struggle with a resurgent right wing.

"We may have many challenges to address, notably the arrival of the far right in parliament," Merkel said Sunday evening. "We will conduct a detailed analysis, because we want to win back the far-right vote by responding to their questions with appropriate policies."