DHAKA: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will run for a fourth term in elections next year. 

A senior politician in her party told CNN on Tuesday (November 15).

“She will run for Chancellor,” Norbert Roettgen of the Christian Democratic Union said on CNN’s program “Amanpour”.

“She is absolutely determined, willing, and ready to contribute to strengthen the international liberal order.

But we can’t see the Chancellor or Germany as last man standing.”

Germans have been waiting for months for clarity on whether Merkel will pursue a fourth term in next year’s elections.

Another stint would be significant because a large part of the German electorate is looking for stability in uncertain times after the Brexit vote in Britain, the election of Donald Trump in the United States and the rise of populist movements in several European countries.

If she pursues the position, she’ll be the favorite to win, political experts say, even though she is facing some backlash over Germany’s refugee policies and the acceptance of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Syria, Afghanistan and other nations.

Merkel, 62, is the daughter of a Protestant minister and was brought up in communist East Germany. 

She was first elected Chancellor in 2005. She became the country's first female leader. Then she was re-elected Chancellor in 2009 and 2013.

BDST: 1357 HRS, NOV 16, 2016
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