Germany held a national election earlier today, results now in. Angela Merkel's party won a third of the votes, and got the largest single bloc, meaning she'll continue as chancellor.
However, her CDU/CSU party lost some 8 percentage points, roughly the same as what the anti-immigrant AfD party gained to become the third largest party in the Bundestag. The second-largest Socialists lost 5 points, while the fourth-largest Free Democrats gained almost 6 points. Greens, the Left, and others gained or lost a half point or less.
The Chancellor has to assemble a majority coalition if, as in this case, her party doesn't win an absolute majority of the seats in the Bundestag. One supposes she will be shopping for that coalition which demands the least compromise in return for inclusion in the government and cabinet positions.
You can read the vote increases for AFD and FDP as protest votes against Merkel's policy of taking in a million or more Muslims, mostly young men. One German voter in five who voted for Merkel last time voted for someone else this time. In a 6 or 7 party race, that's huge.
Bottom line: German voters largely validated President Trump's negative evaluation of Merkel's refugee policy. Mutti Merkel is weakened by this vote.
