German Chancellor Angela Merkel to pursue 4th term


German Chancellor Angela Merkel will formally announce on Sunday her decision to run for a fourth term in office. She indicated her intentions at a smaller meeting of leaders from her conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Merkel, 62, has governed Germany since 2005 and remains popular despite gains by the populist Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) party in recent elections. Some 55 percent of Germans currently say they will vote for her.
Germany has awaited for weeks Merkel's decision on whether to run, and the affirmative announcement will be received as a positive source of stability in Brexit-era Europe. Merkel represents "reliability in turbulent times because she holds society together and stands up to over-simplification," said the CDU's Julia Kloeckner. "She stands for moderation and centrism instead of cheap headlines."
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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