GERMANY: Angela Merkel fights for majority in German election race, calling it "tight"

Record ID: 214061

  • Title: GERMANY: Angela Merkel fights for majority in German election race, calling it "tight"
  • Date: 21st September 2013
  • Summary: STRALSUND, GERMANY (SEPTEMBER 21, 2013) (REUTERS) FISHING BOATS IN HARBOUR OF BALTIC SEA CITY OF STRALSUND, GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL'S CONSTITUENCY VARIOUS OF HARBOUR SUPPORTERS OF MERKEL'S CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS (CDU), WEARING ORANGE HATS AND CARRYING "ANGIE" POSTERS VARIOUS OF MERKEL ARRIVING, SHAKING HANDS WITH SUPPORTERS AND HAVING HER PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN MERKEL WALKING TO STAGE SUPPORTERS WATCHING, BOATS IN BACKGROUND MERKEL ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR, ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "Yesterday, I was asked what I would be doing tomorrow and I forgot to say that I will go and vote. (laughter heard) I said I would have breakfast and then wait. (laughs) Of course I will cast my one vote. Yes, it will be tight." CDU SUPPORTERS WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR, ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "Yes, such a tight race gives me the encouragement to fight up to the very last minute." CDU SUPPORTERS
  • Embargoed: 6th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3G1BXMXJQGSDM4NGYVQBH2M7V
  • Story Text: Angela Merkel wrapped up her re-election campaign in Germany on Saturday (September 21), telling supporters of her Christian Democrat (CDU) party the race was "tight" and that she was willing to fight "up to the very last minute".
    With a third of the country's 62 million voters still undecided and the small Alternative for Germany (AfD) tapping into impatience with euro zone bailouts, Europe's most powerful leader risks spending her third term in an awkward right-left coalition.
    The ruling CDU had tried to ignore the AfD, but abruptly changed tack this week and deployed respected Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to attack the sceptics, who want Greece and other bailout recipients out of the euro.
    Polls put Merkel's conservatives about 13 percentage points ahead of the the pro-European opposition Social Democrats (SPD), meaning she will almost certainly become the third post-war chancellor to win a third term.
    But her coalition with the struggling Free Democrats (FDP) and the combined leftist opposition are neck-and-neck in polls, making the vote in Europe's largest economy too close to predict.
    She could win a slim majority with the FDP or be forced into talks with the SPD that could drag on for months and result in changes to her cabinet, including the departure from the finance ministry of Schaeuble, who has been a key player in the crisis.
    The AfD's surge to just under the five percent threshold for entering the Bundestag lower house risks depriving Merkel of her centre-right majority and stirs concern about Euroscepticism - though the party's impact on policy would be limited.
    Asked how she would spend Sunday before exit polls are expected at 6 p.m. (1800 GMT) when polling stations close, Merkel said she would be having breakfast.
    Then, "I will cast my one vote. Yes, it will be tight," Merkel said.
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