Merkel’s conservatives secure second term

AN EXIT poll last night showed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives have emerged from Germany’s election as the strongestparty and are on track to form a new centre-right government.

Merkel, a conservative, was seeking a second four-year term in yesterday’s parliamentary election. She also wanted to end her “grand coalition” with the centre-left Social Democrats of challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier and form a new government with the centre-right Free Democrats.

An ARD television exit poll put support for Merkel’s Christian Democrats at 33.5% and 22.5 for theSocial Democrats. It has the Free Democrats at 15%, the Left Party at 12.5% and the Greens at 10.5%.