Merkel wins fourth term, exit polls say

  

   German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been re-elected for a fourth term in federal elections, exit polls suggest.

    Her conservative CDU/CSU alliance has won 32.5% of the vote, remaining the largest party in Germany’s parliament, according to the ARD poll. Its coalition partner, the social democratic SPD, has gained 20%.

  

   Meanwhile, the AfD, a right-wing nationalist, anti-Islam party, was on track to win 13.5%, emerging as Germany’s third-strongest party. Addressing supporters, Mrs Merkel said she hoped for a “better result” and talked about “extraordinary challenges”.  She added that she would listen to the “concerns and anxieties” of AfD voters in other to regain them. The numbers mean that the SPD, led by Martin Schulz, has fallen to a new post-World War Two low.