Germany: Another triumph for Angela Merkel

With her decisive win, Angela Merkel became the only major European leader to be re-elected twice since the 2008 global financial crash.

We have now officially entered “the era of Merkelism,” said Heribert Prantl in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. German voters have given Chancellor Angela Merkel “not just a victory, but a triumph.” With her decisive win this week, Merkel became the only major European leader to be re-elected twice since the 2008 global financial crash. How did she do it? Merkelism is a new force, “a kind of power politics that doesn’t flaunt its power.” The scientist from communist East Germany stands for a progressive kind of conservatism that spends frugally yet doesn’t flinch from recognizing gay marriage. Germans loved her stance on the euro crisis, which she “presided over like a Swabian housewife who keeps tight control of the finances.” She doesn’t thrust herself forward with a flashy personality, yet has managed to persuade voters that “whatever went well, the chancellor accomplished, while whatever went badly was the fault of the coalition.”

Her vanilla demeanor is her great strength, said Thomas Schmid in Die Welt. This was the first time in postwar history that a chancellor went to the polls certain of re-election. Unlike other successful multiterm leaders, notably Helmut Kohl, Merkel hasn’t been steadily losing support each election—instead, her Christian Democratic Union actually improved its showing over the 2009 vote, and she nearly took an absolute majority in the Bundestag, a feat not seen since 1957. “She appeals to the Germans because she is so inconspicuous, so seemingly without narcissism, just going about her business without bothering the citizens.” It’s a victory of the status quo.

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