Angela Merkel Steps down As Germany Elects New Chancellor

As Angela Merkel has been Chancellor since the end of 2005, there is plenty to consider. Merkel is not expected to fight hard to gain another politician's position or governmental seat.... who will know?

Merkel has been in power for 15 years but plans to step down after the ongoing election, making the vote an era-changing event to set the future course of Europe's largest economy.

According to international media, Germans went to the polls on Sunday in a national election too close to call, with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) mounting a strong challenge to retiring Chancellor Merkel's conservatives.

Each weekday morning Merkel would wake up at 5 am, put on her cardigan and corduroy trousers, skirt the perimeter of the Berlin Wall and catch the 6.15 from Friedrichstrasse to Adlershof, but perhaps after this election, she will think about her new post-career decisions and approaches or can find a way to work side by side with another political institution.

It's worth mentioning that Merkel’s achievements are more modest. In her 16 years in the chancellery, she has weathered a string of crises, from economic to pandemic. Her abilities as a consensus-forger have served her country and Europe well.

However, her government has neglected too much, nationally and internationally. Germany has got away with it, for now; the country is prosperous and stable.