Angela Merkel Has Bounced Back Ahead Of The September Elections

Angela Merkel, down and almost out not long ago, has bounced back ahead of the September elections.

- Philip Mathew

For over a decade, she has been the most powerful woman on earth. And then, her reputation and power appeared to crumble. But the pendulum has swung again. German Chancellor Angela Merkel now seems reasonably well-positioned to retain her post for another four years. If she wins the national elections in September, as most experts expect, it will be her fourth term as German chancellor— an incredible feat amidst the turbulence that has swept the planet, especially Europe.

I am in Hamburg, Germany’s busy and beautiful port city, to attend the annual world congress of the International Press Institute, the watchdog of press freedom around the globe. Political analysts here say that Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) winning three state elections in recent months confirm voters’ belief that she is the best person to steer the nation with the maturity required to cope with accelerating political, economic, social and technological changes. Her party’s recent successes suggest that the threat from her main challenger—Martin Schulz of the Social Democratic Party (SPD)—is fizzling out.

That was not how it seemed a few months ago. In January, Schulz resigned as the president of the European Parliament to return to German politics as head of the SPD and mount a serious bid to snatch the chancellorship from Merkel in the September elections. After 12 years of Angela Merkel, voters were hankering for change.