global ideas takes the next step protection for our planet's biological diversity trailblazing projects. t w dot com slash global ideals. this is d w news coming to you live from berlin on the about to wins a fourth term as germany's chancellor but voters have dealt a blow to the country's main parties. we've emerged as the strongest party the c.d.u. with the c.s.u. it's now up to us to form a government and no government can be formed against us. it's

a positive spin despite heavy losses for her party but she wasn't the only leader left looking sheepish. it is with a bump i feel i have recommended to the s.p.d. leadership that we go into the opposition tackles main challenge of mountain shoals concedes defeat after projected results indicate the worst ever showing for his center left social democrats. and a triumph for the upstarts of german politics the far right alternative for germany you know we have been given an electoral mandate and we will accept this electoral mandate with humility because millions of voters have given us their trust. more on that and all tonight's results with analysis here in the studio and reaction from our correspondents in washington and moscow.

hello i'm terry martin and welcome to the w. special coverage of the german election. i'm going to akhil has won a fourth term as chancellor but the election result was painful for the country's main parties they've lost a lot of votes compared to last election four years ago that's true not only for merkel's conservatives but also for the social democrats or center left coalition partners in the current government now both parties say they will work to win voters back. joy and despair for germany's conservatives they lost significant ground this time around the chancellor anglo-american will still serve a fourth term she says she'd wished for a better result which is now set to form a new government. isn't stark's the cuff we the c.d.u. and the c.s.u. have emerged as the strongest part and we have the mandate to form a government and no one will form one against us. the social democrats are in shock

after their worst ever result the so-called schultz effect a bump in the polls when party leader martin schulz declared his candidacy went nowhere he's now ruling out joining the new government but says he won't step down as party chair. i have advised the s.p.d. leadership that we go into the opposition soon we're all united in our decision. to take this step. with the s.p.d. out one of michael's possible coalition partners is the pro-business free democratic party and they came back strong after a humiliating defeat four years ago we reformed it before and their friends. the last election period was the first in the history of our republic without the voice of the f.t.p. . and it should be the last. of the you will

and the environmentalist greens are another possible key part of the governing coalition but only on their own terms thank you and i know it was it's just that we will accept the invitation to talk with us but we will stick to our opinion. we want to change this country. we are not in politics in order to have power we're doing politics because we want to change something. one party that won't be in any coalition is the far right alternative for germany they had a historic night that saw the mentor parliament for the first time but their relishing their role as the underdog and they are promising a seismic change in german politics. yes or has been a seismic shift in german politics very much at the expense of the established parties c'mon he has more that's absolutely right terry and i'm going to pick it up where you've left off the loss that has been felt by the c.d.u. might not necessarily be shown here because they're clearly in the lead but that's

a lead that's being called a disappointing victory for chancellor angela merkel's c.d.u. c.s.u. bloc coming in after her is the s.p.d. party which has recorded twenty point four percent of the vote but they have also recorded one of their worst performances in an election in recent history the left party and the greens remaining pretty much where they were in the previous election of nine point one percent that's where they're hovering and the greens at nine percent but really the real victim in this election was the f.t.p. this is the pro-business party we've just heard from them in that previous reports now they were unable to make it into the bundestag in the last election but look at that number ten point seven percent of the vote clearly indicating that they are back and they are here possibly to stay and of course the f.t.v. alternative for germany managing to ghana thirteen percent of the total votes now obviously this means that they are going to be a party represented in the bundestag and how that is going to fare out in the

coming government is something that we will continue to discuss right here in the evening so as we just saw the far right if d. is on track to be the third largest party in parliament and tonight's results means the end to the federal legislature for the first time as we've mentioned now this after having been a magnet for controversy. here in germany but that didn't liberace provocative campaign let's take a closer look at what the if he has in store for the country. it was the results they'd been dreaming of not only has the f.t. made sense of the german parliament it's become the third biggest pots and many are calling it a seismic shift the day after the leaders a promising to change the country. german government whichever way it is formed shall dress warmly we will hunt them.

we will hunt mrs machall or whoever and we will take our country and our people back again. so we're going. i would like the f.t. was elected for its content first position is for the people that have given us their trust and the first thing we will do is to keep our first promise we will initiate a parliamentary investigation into. the f.t. says the german chancellor broke numerous laws when she opened germany's borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees in twenty fifteen now it wants to take her to task it's also promising to make immigration a major issue in parliament. evelyn kind of we don't want the make up of this country changed by a mass invasion of foreigners we've always said that some will take that into

parliament. in fact the a.s.d. wasn't always about immigration when it was founded four years ago it was a single issue set up campaigning against the euro and germany's contribution to the e.u. bailout fund for greece. it's almost got elected to the builders talk in twenty. just shy of five percent needed. but if these electoral fortunes change with chancellor merkel's reaction to the twenty fifty migration crisis it jumped on the issue managed to get into a number of regional assemblies. it's often blood flow making calls for very with scandalous rhetoric fiery clashes it's likely to carry those tactics into the federal certainly. this news of the election results spread hundreds of people converged on the a.f.p. headquarters to protest against the party the a.f.p.

is dividing germans and its rise could make german politics fiery. we've just had the candidates say that he is going to hunt the main parties and not hunt might have started on the field and this is how the distribution of votes went a lot of people are wondering how did the f.t. get the numbers when you can see very clearly that they got them from the established parties the c.d.u. c.s.u. bloc losing one million votes to the f.t. but they want to the only ones all the other parties also lost a considerable number of their voters to the alternative four dots land which is the i'll try party here where exactly are these voters coming from this have a look at our heat now the dock a blue areas are where the f.t. is enjoying most of the support and it's very clear from looking at this that the eastern bloc of the german country is where a lot of their support is coming from well so me particularly here to saxony where

one of their leaders is based frock a pear tree and it's not a surprise then that she would enjoy considerable considerable support right there in her backyard but a lot of people on twitter saying that it's not just the east that was voting for the a.f.p. . people in the east are also voting for the c.d.u. as we can see enjoying twenty seven percent that even though they do enjoy a considerable support in that part of the country but a potties do as well but how exactly will this affect german politics well terry martin has well for us thanks so much it is yes i have with us now are my fellow anchor and political correspondent christopher spring day tie christopher let's talk about the f.t. we're talking about a far right party that's going to be entering germany entering the german parliament as the third strongest party in the bonus talk what can we expect you can expect more fractious debate small polarized debates it'll be

a change of style really in terms of the tone of parliamentary debate in the german parliament you have to bear in mind that many of the f.t. candidates who are winning seats in the new parliament from the far right wing of the parties are you going to have open racism in parliament. there anti semites in their ranks they're hard line nationalists there are conspiracy theorists revisionists it's. one of my colleagues is calling them a bunch of crazies i think that's perhaps slightly overstating it but you will see to booze being broken left right and center the silver lining by the way is that. this will sort of breathe life into a parliament that has been known for rather tepid debates and it will force the mainstream parties mainstream policy makers to work much harder to win the argument and solve people's problems well christopher we were just looking at those numbers

that either showed us of where the f.t. is drawing its support both geographically but also where they gotten boats from other parties and it's right across the board how do you account for the a fifty success i think there are there are two explanations essentially it's. in itself is an anti-establishment policy then narrative is we tell it like it is we punch of the the empty rhetoric that's coming from a government minister and there is a certain type of voter that likes that kind of narrative. that's one source of popularity the other source of their popularity is quite simply their critique of chancellor merkel's decision back in two thousand and fifteen to open germany's borders and let in over a million refugees. that position simply feeds on the sizable portion of german voters who were very angry about that decision or also frightened about the

consequences of having to integrate so many refugees now the f.t. is entering parliament for the first time the last election four years ago they almost got in as a brand new party they were just under the five percent threshold we've seen right wing populist movements emerging all over europe to what degree do you think this is germany just normalising within the european context well you could you could also compare it to what happened on the left of german politics so you had for instance. just as a good hundred or a social democrat. bringing in very controversial labor market reforms controversial among his social democrats ended up splitting the party so you now have a. left wing party to the left of the social democrats which is split the vote perhaps something similar is happening on the right we will have to see whether they if the

manages to go beyond its explosive rhetoric and actually solve a few people's problems so as the main parties have gravitated to the center of the left and right have become more extreme as it were left some gaps there for spring i thank you so much you're welcome. chancellor angela merkel has already ruled out working with the party to form a governing coalition that leaves only one realistic option but bringing together the chancellor is most likely partners looks like it's going to be really challenging that's putting it mildly. business business business that's what the free democrats are all about but they also staunchly support the european union and are now back in parliament after four years of absence you don't want him going for him dear friends the f.t. has become the third strongest party and it fights the european union and openly supports a nationalist ideology the f.t.p.

the liberal rule of law party with the european spirit is the clearest opponent of the a f d. the greens traditionally cater to well educated other nights that the other likely candidate for the governing coalition given the i know it was abstraction you'll accept the invitation to talk but he will stick to our opinion dr we want to change the country and we're not in politics in order to have power. we are doing politics because we want to change something we can't have a government without an idea about how to deal with climate protection and. every other option just won't work with the green party. the question of the hour is what will work for all of the possible coalition partners the business focused f.t.p.'s likely to struggle to find common ground with the greens pro environmental platform german chancellor angela merkel would have an easier time with just one partner like the far right alternative for germany but that's

a move machall and every other german party has ruled out and the f.t. for its part is ramping up its rhetoric against the chancellor. of the as we are clearly the third strongest party the german government whatever way it is formed should dress warmly. we will hunt them. we will hunt mrs miracle or whoever we will take our country and our people back again . so we go in. and promise is like that only on the school the importance at the coming. well for some insight into these election results and possible coalitions spring quest. for university as a political analyst or christoph michaels michael's trying to build a coalition we can see it already what the what her options are she is very limited

options one of the main obstacles for chancellor merkel in trying to put together a new government so i think the thing that she really needs to do to get this coalition off the ground because she has to do this is to negotiate. among the different coalition partners how they get around some of their core issues that are just incompatible they're unlikely partners have a very unlikely partners there are some key differences for example an integration where the the green party and the. don't see eye to eye and i think it is for her to be sort of an agenda setting role in trying to give both parties something that they can bring back to their own voters and say yes we could not get everything that we wanted here but we did get one of our core issues the electoral campaigns that have been wrong do make this possible. because for example the green parties may be willing to. have some concessions on immigration or

integration if they get some concessions with regards to green policies ok so it's not entirely unprecedented that these three groups would come together they have done it at a state level in germany but it's still a bit of an experiment squaring the circle as it were what about the possibility of reviving the so-called grand coalition between the social democrats and c.d.u. the current government as it were. the social democrats have said that they will not be available for another grand coalition you think they might change their minds in the coming weeks i think it is possible but very unlikely the way that they have positioned themselves even if we look at the debate just after the end of the election. it was much more combative actually than what we've seen before right we already looks like the s.p.d. is moving into the position of opposition leadership so to now go back on this

would be very very disastrous for them electorally but also among their own base christophe thank you so much christoph million from berlin's for university thank you. well as we heard there are plenty of open questions for the weeks and months ahead probably as germany's parties try to settle on the shape of a new government but for now let's go back over to. some of the other stories making news around the world. yes thank you terry and we'll begin in iraq where the kurds there have decided that they will move ahead with an independence referendum the regional government president says their partnership with baghdad has failed and there is no other option western powers have kurdish authorities to stop the non-binding vote saying it distracts from the fight against the so-called islamic state. police in the u.s. state of tennessee say one woman has been killed and several others injured after

a masked gunman opened fire in a church there hailing the actions of a church who helped fight off the assailant the motive is not yet clear. the feud between u.s. president donald trump and the professional sports world intensified on sunday a some american football players refused to stand during the national anthem some a few started the protest more than a year ago as a protest against racial prejudice president trump has called on the n.f.l. to stop the practice. the trumpet ministration will impose fresh travel restrictions for additional countries according to a white house statement north korea and venezuela have been added to the original mostly muslim majority list the new restrictions will take effect next month we take you now to terry martin for more on the german election thanks so much. for a lot of stories of course happening in the world right now but here in germany the

focus is obviously on the election it's also getting a lot of attention from other countries the whole world one could say is looking to germany right now to see what sort of government is going to be coming in the tubes let's get some reaction now from across the atlantic our washington correspondent costing phenomenas standing by for us there. any reaction from the u.s. capitol. well actually there have been quiet a few reactions yet and no tweet from donald trump at least not on the german elections the president as we've just heard has been busy with other topics like immigration and most of all where the his ongoing battle with u.s. sports stars he has called for the firing of a number of players from the national football league the american football league there and picked a fight with a number of sports stars from basketball and baseball league so that's the big

story here most prominent politician reacting to the german election has been senator john mccain a foreign policy experts he congratulated. and called the german u.s. relations critical and strong and he said those must remain strong but there has been no official white house statement no statement from the state department the american foreign ministry another person that has reacted is run a lot of the world jewish congress and he called a true friend of israel and the jewish people and he criticized the a.f.p. the right wing a fifty saying it's a. reactionary movement which recalls the worst of germany's possible these the main reactions here in the us so far of course the media have covered the results

and they have focused on mainly two or three issues first of all americans would remain chancellor secondly the a of d. would be in the parliament as the third strongest party in germany now and the third points but only in papers really for politics bobs is the question what is a jamaica coalition because that's of course is quite confusing for americans that i'm going to mackinaw has to deal with a number of parties to form a government but the most important message until america will stay and that is seen as a sign of stability cost and thank you so much to his constant phenomenon talking to us from washington. let's get the view from moscow now is yuri rachet who is standing by for us there yuri any reaction from the kremlin yeah hi terry we don't have any official reactions from the kremlin but we do you know what people on the streets of moscow are saying most of those we

told to do saturday are satisfied with the main result of that until america won this election as they argue that the german chancellor stands for stability stability not only in germany and europe but also stability in the german russian relationship also people seem to like america as a mediator in the russian ukrainian conflict and of course everybody realized that the far right party is now getting to the gym and going to stock beach racist concerns in moscow. but actually the f.t. got sent to palm and so obviously the german people and they need to be listened to but they wanted the right wing party that's another in the history of great and we know how that turned out in the corn so they need to be. anything new hasn't been tried out yet so it's an experiment and no one ever knows how experiments will end up with medical let so many people into the country it's hard to believe it's awful she must go. medical selection will stabilize the relationship with

russia. i hope for a friendly relations with germany for relations to be restored. both of our countries really need that. but i'm glad that merkel won she is a strong leader and is leading germany on the right path. if michael's chancellor now the nothing new will happen it will be the same old song the same old relations nothing good will come of it you will. ok you very well it's clear that america is probably well it's clear that she will run the next government but we don't know exactly what that government is going to look like what is the putin government in moscow looking for from the incoming german administration. well i think it's to simple to say moscow wants to disrupt the german government things to the d. for example the kremlin mike to be now somehow satisfied that uncle americal is

forced to change policies because of the i d but moscow doesn't recognize americal as arguably the most influential politician in europe it has to deal with yes it's true that russians have recently had a direct contact to the d. but you can see you can't say moscow has been only keeping in touch with the deep president putin met with the social democrats in my governor the german foreign minister he also welcome to the various state premier how to say how far to wise in the last two years and he received the christian democrats and the americal german cut chancellor at he's a summer house and such is so alternately what russians want is dialogue to be recognized as an equal partner and russians are not interested in a weak germany they want to strong germany because of a very strong german russian relations yuri thanks so much they don't use your ear shatter they're talking to us from moscow. and as if the german election wasn't

enough to deal with the german capital was also hosting a major global sporting event it is i have all the details nearly forty four thousand competitors hit the streets of germany's capital as terry has just said for that marathon and kenyans won both the men's and women's races and feats up against for damp conditions which made it tough for the top male kids who were aiming to break the world record of just in the two hours and three minutes and you could chug a won the men's race for the second time in his career but missed a new record for by more than thirty seconds his compatriot not just your own no one in the women's race in just over two hours and twenty five. well that's all we've had prepared for you this hour you are watching news live from by news that's right stay tuned we do have lots more coverage of the german election coming up and you'll find all the latest numbers and coalition options for chancellor merkel if she heads into another legislative period go to d w dot com

thanks for watching. election victory number four. on good american remains germany's chancellor. political career began in one thousand nine hundred nine when the berlin wall. fell and unforeseen rise to power. from physicists to the most powerful woman in the

world until america a portrait. in sixty minutes. when i'm traveling to be comfortable. but i also want to stay up to date on the latest news events. and e.w. makes that part of traveling easy because it's available and thousands of hotels resorts and cruise ships worldwide. have you found inside sent us a picture that shows the w in your room you could win a great price. dot com travel quiz she's long been a symbol of hope in syria. i try to help people. assigned does she

stand for change. for the false facade of her husband's ruthless talent. she believes in what the syrian regime is doing and believes in those whose. projection that they are saving syria must my son the futile face of the dictatorship starting october first on d w. 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.