Tag: Carsten Nickel

Merkel announced that she will not be seeking any political posts after her term as chancellor ends in 2021. I will not be seeking any political posts after the current terms ends in 2021," she added, in what was the first confirmation from the German leader that she will step down after being in power since 2005. The announcement follows a disappointing regional election in the state of Hesse on Sunday. "It is worth noting at this point that the chancellor is elected by the Bundestag (German Parliament) while the leader of the CDU is elected by CDU party members. A regional election in the German state of Hesse delivered another political blow to Merkel on Sunday, with more voters fleeing to the left and right. Merkel's CDU party and her coalition partner in Berlin, the Social Democratic Party, saw heavy losses in the state of Hesse on Sunday. The SPD saw its support fall from 30.7 percent in 2013 to 19.8 percent in the vote. Meanwhile, the Greens gained 19.7 percent (up from 11.1 percent) and the AfD was seen with 13.2 percent of the vote, tripling its vote share from 2013 and allowing it to enter parliament for the first time. Meanwhile, Kal Klose, chairman of the Greens party in Hesse, told CNBC that the regional election had shown that "the people don't like the style of how the grand coalition works." "The underlying dynamic in German politics is twofold," Nickel continued in his note.