Angela Merkel’s election victory has been branded ‘bitter’ by the German press, who says she is facing a ‘nightmare’ trying to form a coalition after yesterday’s results.
The Chancellor has clung on to power after her centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won 33 per cent of votes, its worst election result since 1949.
In addition she hemorrhaged millions of votes to anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party that won 13 per cent of votes.
Judgement day: Liberal newspaper Der Tagespiegel called Chancellor Angela Merkel’s 33 per cent win a ‘bitter victory’ after far-right AfD won 13 per cent of votes
Merkel woke up to a fourth term, but now faces the double headache of an emboldened hard-right opposition party and thorny coalition talks ahead.
Her former coalition partners, the left-wing Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) have promised to go into opposition.
They too suffered their worst election result since the fall of Hitler, winning just 20 per cent of votes.
These issues were reflected on the front pages of newspapers and at the top of news websites across the country today.
Tabloid Bild called it the ‘nightmare victory of the chancellor’, saying that while Merkel now enters her fourth term – a feat only previously achieved by Helmut Kohl – there is ‘no trace of euphoria’ the morning after the election win.
Calling her out: Centre-right Die Welt said Merkel’s CDU had lost their strength
Worrying: The Süddeutsche Zeitung has put a picture of AfD leader Frauke Petre at the top of their news website this morning
Struck by lightning: Die tageszeitung likened the news of the AfD winning 13 per cent to a lightning bolt hitting the German parliament
Liberal newspaper Der Tagespiegel called it a ‘bitter victory’ for Merkel, while centre-right Die Welt said Merkel’s CDU had lost their strength.
Germany’s most read broadsheet, the centre-left Süddeutsche Zeitung recorded a ‘historically bad mood’ at the CDU’s HQ, saying that whatever coalition is formed, the price Merkel will have to pay to stay in office will be very high.
It also applauded SPD’s decision to go into opposition, saying that entering a coalition again would be ‘Harakiri’ – suicide.
In a comment piece, the editor of the centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the country’s second most-read broadsheet said that the SPD is ‘looking into the abyss’ and blamed the ‘loss of control at the German borders’ for CDU voters turning to an anti-immigration party.
Die tageszeitung, a leftwing paper, likened the news of the AfD winning 13 per cent to a lightning bolt hitting the German parliament.