all the strength of many cameras and their problems are all the same order to social inequality a lack of the freedom of the press. corruption who can afford to stay silent when it comes to the fans of the humans and senior white voters who have decided to put their trust in us. my name is jenny paris and i work a d.w.i. . i'm going to america gets a fourth term as chancellor but she is a wounded leader and she'll have to contend with the far right party in the new parliament right here in berlin now this all makes germany something that it hasn't been in more than a generation on predictable tonight the world's first reactions a wish list and a reality check i'm bringing off in berlin

a special election edition of the day starts now. of all of these from one there is no need to mince words we would have liked to have had better results but this on exhibit today the social democracy i feel ya man all it's now down to us to form a government and against us no government can be formed with a body and it's like the grand coalition is the. one that really naturally there is a challenge facing us in the future and that is that the f.d.a. has made it into politics. yet unseen we will chase them. we will chase mrs merkel oh no you are going and we will get our people and our country back

please of all it's always good. we begin the day with a germany transformed americal made history today a fourth term as germany's chancellor is hers to have but it will not be business as usual mrs merkel is now a weaker leader and whatever new government she constructs it is guaranteed to come with pitfalls that merkel has never had to master before in a world that has seen seismic shifts from washington to london to paris in berlin merkel's reelection should mean stability but it will not for the first time in sixty years. a far right party the a.f.d. will be a part of the german parliament today the a if these top candidate warned his party plans to quote hunt down chancellor merkel even if possible have her arrested for her refugee policy and with that the politics of conflict moves into

a parliament that is known around the world for its consensus compromise and there we say boring brand of legislative what can the world expect from this transformed germany what would the world like for mongul america or earlier tonight here in berlin she hinted that for now hanging on is enough not all of these the months of didn't let's not mince our way it's we expected a slightly better result that's clear. but we can't forget that we had a very challenging four years in office is that what they would have but that's not why it's why i am happy to reach the strategic goals of our election campaign by compass and i. visit the c.d.u. and c.s.u. is the strongest party. we have the right to form the next government and no government can be formed without us. but that's not into thing is not

and after twelve years of being the strongest party in parliament i think that's not something to take for granted. when that's really big and there is a big challenge facing us in the future that atheist made it into the parliament when a stock. it's a big challenge indeed to want to talk through the events of today have to do that i'm joined here at the big table by eric walker he is professor at the government department georgetown university in washington d.c. eric is an authority on german politics he's also worked as an advisor to the u.s. state department also with me as well to let me editor of derrick thomas spiegel newspaper right here in berlin he was also that paper's bureau chief in washington d.c. gentlemen it's good to have you here the big table and eventful day a historic day. what did germany and its voters decide today actually there well i think they decided to continue with chancellor merkel i

mean for all the talk of transformation and everything like that i mean she is going to stay in power most likely so i think they are choosing continuity but there also is some kind of payback i think that a lot of germans were really unhappy with her policy decisions during the migration crisis and now it's coming back to haunt her and she's we can because of it but there's still it's still continuity overall well it's a revenge of the voters there's a little a little aspect of revenge into it i mean i mean if one party if you already mentioned the right wing populist party if they if the they were strictly opposing her refugee policy so they got a tremendously huge amount of shares with thirteen percent but even the liberals the business front liberals had a good share and they leased the last weeks and months were very i mean skeptical about this refugee policy as well they are no racist and the right wing populist but that showing that their strength as well the ten percent or something there is a sort of revenge into it but it still will still be tense i mean there's no doubt

about that is she going to now have the same fate that barack obama did being more popular outside of her country than she is at home. she still is popular i mean i mean she just got i mean thirty to thirty three percent of the votes but she settled for a lot of the germans she is much more popular outside of jail but the problem is she lost tremendously she did i mean the party lost a million votes today you know just in the a.f.d. . i also agree that you know merkel is still very popular in germany i saw data the other day that showed that they preferred her over martin schulze that they're very satisfied with her work they're very satisfied with the policy output of this government so i don't know i mean what's one of the interesting takeaways from today is that the german electorate was always very rational and it was actually rather easy to analyze and understand from a comparative perspective but now all of a sudden you know it's not so easy there's a degree of irrationality that's the kind of weather that isn't going to version

six party system so in a very diverse and six party system it's hard to tell what the vote or the so-called vote to really want the unpredictability factor is now the big factor in deal not only in domestic politics but do you think it's also going to make germany an unpredictable partner no i don't think so i think angela merkel will manage to form a the so-called john like a coalition with the greens the liberals and the c.d.c. is your party so i think she will able to do that and the moment she did it she has enough votes to govern she has a strong majority and why should she change course in europe the liberals of the greens of pro european parties and this issue is this is the most basic thing she has to do she would be much more i mean she would continue with the policy to fight the calls for against wretch if you refugees are coming closing the borders and things like that because this she i got i think she got the message it's quite

unpopular so that more and more and better people yeah i mean it was almost her undoing wasn't the summer of two thousand and fifteen ok but you know that's history if moving forward is this term and we're assuming this is going to be the last term that we have medical as chancellor is this going to be the time for her to become the states woman do to think about her legacy and to think about how she'll be described in. street books hasn't she already been a stateswoman for you know twelve years of power i mean if you look at some of the really unpopular decisions she made first and foremost the migration crisis but also standing up to trump from the from the get go and all the standing up to putin after crimea and ukraine i mean i think that she always has been a stateswoman so i don't know i think it'll be really interesting to see if she does anything different over the next couple of years the one thing that i would add is that we've come to expect that the germans would always went just like in soccer but i don't think that's going to happen this time forget it will be twenty

eighteen the way they're going to write what i mean with the germans always winning i mean they were able to push through their policies against a lot of opposition during the euro crisis their will to push through their policy when she you know accepted all of these migrants and then you know expected that the other e.u. member states would take their fair share i mean german germany has a massive export surplus that many people including you know policymakers in the united states have really criticize and yet nothing's really changed i think that what we might see in here's a little bit of unpredictability what we might see in the next four years is that the germans are going to win so much and that could have ripple effects on domestic politics in ways that who knows i think of the basic task is to give this new it's a very new coalition the has she has the ability to give it a kind of philosophy to be modern pure root european digital open climate policy things like that to get some kind of model appeal this kind of

coalition and if she's able to do that she might accomplish a lot of things malton air standby the discussion continues. it's about german life and its future in a very turbulent world and i don't know how many times i've been asked in the past days about the dictator in north korea what's happening there how is the united states reacting what can germany to what can europe do how our relations with russia what about china those other things i've been hearing as well as issues of domestic security and our economic and social security. joining me tonight from washington d.c. is karen dawn three president of the german marshall fund a think tank dedicated to transit when it cooperation good evening to you karen is good to see you let me ask you from where you're sitting tonight. how does argel america look to you. so i think we here in

washington were surprised that the union parties did not do better than they did so it does seem that there was a tiredness of the grand coalition of tenth america and i think we're seeing that in the final numbers but for most americans because we have a presidential system here in the u.s. we're focused on the fact that chancellor merkel won a fourth term the world has looked at particularly in this age of donald trump as as a killer point or a counterweight to the trumpet ministration. is that now under threat. i hear right that various american publications have called her the leader of the free world but that was a title that chancellor merkel never embraced herself so she might be comfortable

with having expectations of her and less and a bit but she has very much focused on the importance and ten trial of the of the values that undergird the transatlantic relationship in for own policies whether it's been maintaining sanctions against russia because of its behavior in ukraine or in continuing to support open markets and free trade. there was a commentator earlier today who said that miracles reelection would be the an egypt to president donald trump do you agree. we've seen chancellor merkel and president trump already begin to build a relationship it's spend challenging for both of them but my expectation would be on the one hand the president will continue to focus on his belief that germany is not spending enough on defense and the need for germany to address what it his

words is germany's massive trade surplus i think on the other hand despite those criticisms you're going to see both a numerical government whatever the coalition and a trumpet ministration try to carve out some areas where both governments can work constructively together here and i have to ask you how do you view what we heard today from the alternative for germany. threatening that now that they are going to be in parliament they plan to launch a parliamentary inquiry into the refugee policy of americal i mean we've heard the language that we're going to hug the chancellor some people in the a.f.d. said that they want to have or put in jail. from where you're sitting does this look like the trump of the occasion of political discourse in germany.

i think that example is a great illustration of the fact that even though chancellor merkel will continue as the leader of germany there is a shifting political landscape within germany that matters also for germany's partners we'll see if the f.t. makes good is able to make good on that pledge to undertake a parliamentary inquiry but it clearly shows us that politics in germany going forward are going to look very different than they have not only over the past four years but arguably over the past seven decades karen dunphy president of the german marshall fund karen as always we appreciate you taking the time to be on the day thank you for that was the reaction from washington until america however recognizes that she faces big challenges on this side of the atlantic as

well take a listen to what she said today this is just be yet you try to lay the ground for this in becoming a yes seeing young ones who is that's a view that that's really the only the issue when you're one of them we have to work for a strong e.u. we have to fight illegal immigrations and the coolest is to feed those countries with the horns and. we also have to look at interior security. that's really the domestic security will let's get the european reaction to today's events from our brussels bureau chief max hoffman and the reaction from moscow from correspondent our correspondent there in really sure way to both of you good evening let me start with you max will it be business as usual in brussels with a new coalition government in berlin. it really depends on the coalition brand but there is one party that many here in brussels and especially in france with

well suspicion the f.t.p. the liberals if they are part of a government that might cause some trouble there is the story that we couldn't verify but which appeared in french media about my cross saying so the french president behind closed doors that if the f.t.p. is part of a german government then he's done the thinking behind that is that the f.t.p. itself is very skeptical of some of the ideas that money my call is trying to sell at this moment for example euro zone budget so we don't think we'll have business as usual and all the coalition partners have said they want to change the business because unclear exactly what what we're going to michael will do and what this business will be in the future with the new coalition we know that the e.u. has always looked to uncle americal for strong leadership can it still do that after what happened today. well she's still the chancellor and she's still the chancellor of europe's most powerful economies so there is built in leadership in

a way here it really depends on what she will be able to do within the framework of a new coalition she might not be able to follow mccraw as much as she would have liked to because as you know the german french engine of the european union which is extremely important for anything to move on was reborn with the election of mccraw and mccraw seems sort of like the rising star in the european union at the moment while medical with this election more seems to be like you know in the fall of her political career but she still is the most seasoned politician she has the most experience but now she will have to prove also to her partners that she's able to lead that new coalition that new government in germany and everybody will watch that very closely here in brussels you know your i mean she does remain the longest serving leader in europe and in the western world emily let me ask you a balance the relationship to russia is a weaker marital does that translate into

a stronger vladimir putin. well if it is the case that merkel is weaker than of course that could be a distraction from whatever is going on in russia for her so that could be a positive factor for vladimir putin but of course i basically agree with what max said she still is the chancellor and that's very much how it's been perceived here the headlines here in russia have really read americal wins the election basically throughout the board and so people here see it as you know this is her fourth term but russia's leaders too are probably are likely to be following the coalition negotiations closely as well at the moment it looks likely that she's going to be working with the greens and the free democrats and the greens are very critical of russia they're very much pro sanctions whereas the free democrats the f.t.p.

there was a small scandal recently the leader of the f.t.p. said that we should be realistic about crimea and that the anik sation of crimea by russia should be seen as a quote permanent provisional arrangement so he was advocating reale politike so they certainly here in russia will be watching closely what happens with the coalition who she's pairing up with but basically people are focusing on america i mean let me just play devil's advocate here we know that the d. is going to be the major disrupter in german politics at least for the next four years is that exactly what russia wants to see. well ahead of the election you know german officials were saying that hacking could be likely that russia is trying to destabilize this election but then the interior minister said that there wasn't any hacking so that could show that actually russia really does want a stable germany russia russian german economic relations are very important so i

think it's in russia's interest to actually have a stable germany to have stability here in the country but there is excitement here about the a.f.p. on state t.v. i just i just saw that they had a specific a correspondent that they actually sent specifically to the a.f.p. headquarters they were talking about how this will liven up the political life in germany and perhaps that exact excitement is justified i mean this is a pro russian to party that's going to be in the parliament there against the sanctions policy so that's likely to be seen as a as a positive development here all right or correspondents really sure and while skill and max hoffman in brussels to both of you thank you very much. you know what i'm saying president you know you do remember to have called an investigation committee inquiry committee and i'm going to imagine what you're

trying to achieve with this committee this inquiry committee will have the clear mandate of looking infringements of and all that i'm going to back to his commitment to one example the refugee policy has no legal basis it wasn't even discussed in the parliament you simply can't do that sort of thing the son of an undermining parliamentarians which is why we are where we are. and that was g.w. correspondence a lot of speaking to the lead candidate alice vital earlier tonight here in berlin the far right populist now boosted by their success in the election have made no secret about their next target that is the german chancellor herself. the party's other lead candidate alexander galland declaring earlier tonight that they would hunt down chancellor merkel and take back. the country i want to pull back in erick long and walker and malta let me here at the big table with me. i mean that

language is going to come out and say we're not really heard that language today immediately i thought of the trunk campaign from last year i mean it's taken straight from the truck book isn't it it's almost like the locker up chance that you heard all against hillary clinton and it's also not surprising that the were rumors of all sorts of trump advisors coming in to kind of help out the a of d. you know it's funny how this right populism is kind of like an infection that it gets under the skins of certain types of voters and it's really hard to get rid of of course with the russians you know doing what they do as well as really quite something but you know what i don't think it's going to be as disruptive as in the united states and that's for one big reason and that is the media i think the german media has not gone in the same direction as the american media as it's not all about ratings it's not all about giving you know hours and hours of free air time to you know one of the two candidates i think the german media is not going to overblow the rhetoric the inflammatory rhetoric that comes from the mouths of the a politicians and that's going to make it easier to manage do you agree with them

all to is this a question of power as well i mean i would agree to a certain extent the trump of cation of the political language may be the biggest impact of the f.t. being a member of the parliament we have to get used to this kind of languages and i'm very sorry about that because we're used to come out of civilized discourse but the but the political abilities are very limited so i mean what do you mean by that even to call in the inquiry commission they knew would need the votes from the link of the left wing party or the social democrats they just up thirteen percent so they can't i mean i won't they conduit alone beside of the point that i don't think there's any substance of the time but this is for you to find out for the commission will germany be there when the world calls or will it be permanently distracted by itself i mean it has to deal now with not only with. chancellor but also this far right party. it is i think for

a couple of weeks maybe even months they will have to find out if they find this new kind of coalition we will give them a kind of philosophy that they can work on that will will not to point too much on the on the differences but what helps them as well is the disparity of the opposition we have the social democrats the a if t. and the left wing party so this is some kind of disparate opposition to as they have no real clear opposition against them they are so many internal quotes of as well the parties that i think they really can focus on their own kind of policy. and that's going to wrap up this edition of the day the special election edition of the day we'll see you tomorrow everyone.

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. she believes in what the syrian regime is doing and believes in those who say. projection that that they are saving syria was on the beautiful face of the dictatorship starting october first on. germany decides what is your take on the whole position regarding not only climate change. germany has voted we answered your questions. asked d.-w. your questions about germany. and the medical care they were not a plan to. write to us on facebook will answer your questions. meet the germans new and surprising aspects of noise and culture in germany. us

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this is d.w. news live from berlin agel america wins a fourth term as germany's chancellor but support for the country's main political parties has shrunk as we've emerged as the strongest.