Twilight of the chancellor - Merkel’s defeat

GERMAN leader Angela Merkel is facing what her fellow citizens refer to as ‘Kanzlerdämmerung’ — meaning ‘twilight of the chancellor’.

A humiliating regional election defeat in her home district could see the demise of Europe’s most powerful and longest-serving leader.

Her Christian Democrats party fell to third place behind the centre-left Social Democrats and the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party.

Another defeat looms in two weeks at elections in Berlin. If the results are equally as bad, it could cast doubt over the chancellor’s hopes of winning — or even running — for a fourth term in next year’s general election.

Merkel’s open-door migration policy has been blamed for the defeat. More than 1m refugees entered Germany in 2015. Despite her insistence that Germany can afford to take in refugees on that scale, voters are not convinced.

Given her harsh treatment of Ireland during the banking crisis, it would be ironic if her kindest act led to her demise.