Polls; Merkel on track to win 2nd term in Germany

By GEIR MOULSON and MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press Writers

BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel looked set to romp into second term and form a new center-right government after Sunday's national election, while her center-left rival conceded that his party had suffered "a bitter defeat."

Merkel, a conservative, was seeking to end her "grand coalition" with the center-left Social Democrats of challenger Frank-Walter Steinmeier and form a government with the pro-business Free Democrats instead.

Both the ARD and ZDF television networks forecast that Merkel was on track to get her wish — helped by a very strong showing for the Free Democrats.

Projections for the two stations, based on early counting and exit polls, put support for Merkel's Christian Democrats at 33.5 percent of the vote and for the Social Democrats at around 23 percent. The projections also showed the Free Democrats at nearly 15 percent, the Left Party at more than 12 percent and the Greens at more than 10 percent.

If the projections are borne out, it would be the worst parliamentary election result for the Social Democrats since World War II.

Steinmeier swiftly conceded that his party was headed into opposition.

"There is no talking around it: this is a bitter defeat," a subdued Steinmeier told supporters at the party's Berlin headquarters, vowing to provide a strong opposition to Merkel's new government.

Merkel had argued that a change of coalition was needed to ensure stronger economic growth amid the global economic decline. In joining with the Free Democrats, she hopes to cut taxes and halt a plan to shut down Germany's nuclear power plants by 2021.

Volker Kauder, the conservatives' parliamentary leader, said a center-right majority appeared "reachable."

"We have achieved our election aims and it is a good result for our country," Kauder told ARD.

Germany's three opposition parties appeared to have gained over the past four years, with all of them headed for their best results ever.

In 2005, all three parties scored less than 10 percent of the vote each. Merkel's conservatives squeaked in as the winners then, scoring 35.2 percent to the Social Democrats' 34.2 percent.

While the outcome was particularly painful for the Social Democrats, Merkel's party also performed poorly. The result was little better than their own worst postwar performance — 31 percent, in 1949.

However, Kauder argued that many votes for the Free Democrats were "Merkel votes."