TIL Desk/World/Berlin/ The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by German sitting Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday defended its dominant role in the Germany’s federal elections with 32.5 per cent of the vote, according to the preliminary exit poll. The figure fell short of expectations and was nine percentage points lower than in the 2013 parliamentary election.
The Union’s main rival, Germany’s centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), led by former European Parliament president Martin Schulz, also suffered a big setback and took just 20 per cent of the vote, which was their worst election result since World War II, said the poll.
In the last federal election in 2013, Merkel’s conservative CDU party with its sister Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) party secured 41.5 per cent of the vote. Though lower than expected, the margin of CDU and CSU will still offer a decent chance for Merkel to claim her fourth term as Chancellor.
Senior official of the CDU Volker Kauder said that the party had reached its expectation for the election, and Merkel will remain in office as chancellor and will be granted the mandatory to form the new cabinet.
