德国总理安格拉·默克尔(Angela Merkel)在联邦大选中胜选连任，获得第四个任期。从选战三个月前开始以来，这一结果似乎就不可避免。
然而，她所在的执政党德国基督教民主联盟(CDU)的得票率低于预期，而德国极右翼民粹主义势力激增，赢得的选票超过大多数民调者的预测。
官方结果显示，默克尔的基民盟和其姊妹党——巴伐利亚基督教社会联盟(SCU)共赢得了33%的选票，使之成为德国战后第三位赢得第四个任期的总理。
民意测验专家曾预计基民盟与基社盟能拿下36-39%的选票。
由于基民盟的得票少于预期，而德国有争议的极右翼民粹主义政党“德国另类选择党”(AfD)的表现好于预期，因此默克尔的胜利可以说是苦涩的。
默克尔在基民盟总部说：“我们为幸福和美好的德国而战。”不过，她承认面临“德国另类选择党式的新挑战”，她还说：“我们希望赢回这个党的选民，所以我们要注意他们的担忧。”
德国另类选择党轻易跨越了在联邦议院中拥有席位所需的百分之五选票的门槛。
有些人把德国另类选择党的崛起间接地归咎于默克尔，该党似乎曾经濒临灭亡，而默克尔2015年实行对中东难民的开放政策之后，这个党起死回生。
德国另类选择党在全国的得票率为12.6%，成为纳粹时代以来首次有公开支持民族主义的政党进入德国议会，标志一个对政治演讲设限、警惕任何激进表达民族主义言论的国家的一个巨大转变。
德国另类选择党领导人彼得里发推文说，德国经历了“无与伦比的政治地震”。在该党的总部，支持者喊到：“我们要收复这个国家。”
然而，这仍然可以被视为是默克尔个人的一场胜利。她星期日晚坦言，这是一场艰难的选战。两年前，默克尔的政治地位似乎已岌岌可危。当时，选民反对她的移民政策，对她处理南欧的债务危机以及德国不断加剧的社会不平等感到厌恶。
随着难民潮的回落和川普赢得美国总统大选，默克尔的民调有所回升。一些基民盟内部人士认为，就像去年英国的脱欧公投一样，川普因素帮助了默克尔。
Angela Merkel has won a fourth term as Germany’s Chancellor in a federal election whose outcome seemed inevitable since the start of campaigning three months ago.
But her ruling Christian Democrats got a lower share of the vote than predicted and Germany’s far-right populists surged, securing a bigger vote than most pollsters forecast.
Official results give Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, a 33 percent share of the vote, making her one of only three postwar chancellors elected to a fourth term.
Pollsters had expected the CDU/CSU to win between 36 to 39 percent of the vote.
With the lower CDU vote and a stronger showing than expected by Germany’s controversial far-right populist party Alternative for Germany, Merkel’s win is arguably bittersweet.
“We fought for Germany that lives happily and well,” Merkel said at the CDU headquarters. But she acknowledged “a new challenge in the form of the AfD,” adding, “We would like to win back AfD voters so we will look into their concerns.”
AfD easily cleared the five percent threshold needed to secure seats in the Bundestag.
Merkel is blamed indirectly by some in Germany for the rise of the AfD, which until her 2015 open-door policy for war refugees from the Middle East appeared to be moribund.
AfD grabbed 12.6 percent of the national vote, the first time openly nationalists have entered the German parliament since the Nazi era, marking a sharp departure for a country that has limits on political speech and is wary of any dramatic expressions of nationalism.
AfD leader Frauke Petry tweeted that Germany has experienced an “incomparable political earthquake.” At the party’s headquarters, supporters chanted, “We are going to take this country back.”
Merkel’s win can be seen as a personal triumph for her, despite the emergence of the AfD. She acknowledged Sunday night it had been “a difficult campaign.” Two years ago Merkel’s political position appeared much more precarious with the country turning against her immigration policy and resentment building up over her handling of the debt crisis in southern Europe and increasing social inequality in Germany.
Her poll ratings recovered as the refugee influx ebbed and Donald Trump won election in the United States. Some CDU insiders say the “Trump factor” helped Merkel, as did last year’s Brexit vote.