Is Angela Merkel About to Receive Another Blow?
Germany’s ruling coalition is getting ready for yet another major setback this weekend.
The nation is in the midst of a couple of state elections that are weakening its coalition government.
The German state of Bavaria held its election on October 14. The state of Hesse will hold its election on Sunday. These elections pose three big problems for Chancellor Angela Merkel, which will weaken and could destroy Merkel’s government.
- Plummeting support for Ms. Merkel’s party
Hesse is home to Frankfurt, Germany’s financial capital. It is typically a stronghold for Ms. Merkel’s party. Polls forecast that her party would receive 26 percent of the vote. That would be a massive drop compared to the 38 percent it won last time.
Merkel’s party does not run in Bavaria, but her sister party, the Christian Social Union, does. It got pummeled in the election there, receiving its worst result in 68 years. It was one of the very few times it didn’t win at least 50 percent of the vote; instead, it received only 37.2 percent.
This is making many in Ms. Merkel’s party unhappy with her, and there is a lot of talk of a new leader. Merkel’s party members need to decide who it wants to lead them in December, as there’s talk that they might try to get rid of her then.
- Plummeting support for the Social Democrats
Ms. Merkel is governing Germany in a coalition with the Social Democratic Party (spd). The elections have been a disaster for the Social Democrats too. Typically, the spd is Germany’s No. 1 or No. 2 party, its main left-wing party. In federal elections, they regularly received around 40 percent of the vote. In Bavaria, they won less than 10 percent, coming in fourth. Polls also forecast the spd will fare badly in Hesse. It seems their time as Germany’s main left-wing party is over.
This is causing a crisis in the party, and many want to leave the coalition and bring down Ms. Merkel.
- The rise of the AfD
The far-right Alternative für Deutschland entered the Bavarian state parliament for the first time with over 10 percent of the vote. It is also certain to enter the Hesse state parliament on Sunday. If so, it will, for the first time, have representatives in all German parliaments.
This is a massive defeat for mainstream German politics, which has done all it can to demonize the AfD and its supporters. But the party keeps growing.
Put these trends together and you see a crisis for German politics. Project Syndicate published an article earlier this week saying that this is the end of Germany’s two-party system and that the nation “could be heading for a new era of paralysis and instability.”
This is exactly what the Trumpet has been warning about for years. The Bible describes a massive change soon coming to German politics. Daniel 11 describes the rise of a strong leader. It states that he shall not be given “the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.” Barnes’ Notes on the Old and New Testaments states, “[I]n other words, it should not be conferred on him by any law or act of the nation, or in any regular succession or claim.”
Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has speculated about how this leader could come to power. In a 2009 Key of David program, he said this leader could “perhaps take advantage of a weak coalition.”
The events we see in Germany with these two elections perfectly set the stage for this strongman.
This strongman is someone you need to know more about. He will have a huge impact on the world and on your life. To learn about this subject, read our free booklet A Strong German Leader Is Imminent, by Gerald Flurry.
