yes i mean it's a kind of culture war we are who we are in accept us for what we are we're friendly unbelievable. then the a sun media phenomenon starting october fifteenth on d w. this is d w news coming to you live from berlin i'm going back a wins a fourth term as chancellor but voters still have punished the country's main party . 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 looking sheepish it is but if i have recommended to the s.p.d. leadership that we go into the opposition macro's main challenger mountain shoals conceives defeat after a 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 . and all we have been given an electoral mandate and we will accept this electoral mandate which humility because millions of voters have given us their trust more on that and all of tonight's results with analysis here in the studio and reaction from our correspondent.

well i'm terry march and welcome to the w special coverage of the german election. i'm going to buckle 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 the last election four years ago and that's true not only for merkel's conservatives but also for the social democrats are center left coalition partners in the current government now both parties say they'll 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've 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've advised the s.p.d. leadership that we go into the opposition soon we're all united in our decision. to take this step. i mean he's i'm sure that. 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 the reform then before and their friends. before 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 let's the divisions and.

the environmentalist greens are another possible key part of the governing coalition but only on their own terms. and. we will accept the invitation to talk but we will stick to our opinion. we want to change this country . we are not in politics in order to have power we are 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 them enter parliament for the first time but their relishing their role as the underdog and they are promising a seismic change in german politics. seismic shift i guess you could say the smaller parties very happy but the biggest parties licking their wounds a bit absolutely terry but looking at the numbers it wouldn't seem that way i mean

look at this the c.d.u. is clearly in the lead there you'll see that number pop up just now with thirty two point eight percent of the vote but of course it's been called a disappointing victory for them because they've lost quite a number of voters to other parties the s.p.d. coming in second but again registering a historically bad result as far as elections go in this country the left party and the greens retaining sort of the same percentage points that they had in the last four years not really shifting at the nine percent margin and the real victims of this election all the f.t.p. we did hear their leader speaking in the report saying that in the last election their voice was interim president had but he did say that this time around they're back and they're hoping to stay there if the obviously being the party that most people are talking about this is going to be the thought largest party in the bundestag and it's. also going to be the first time that they're going to get representation in the lower house as to how this will affect german politics is something that can continue to be discussed throughout this evening but as we've

just seen the far right f.t. is on track to be the third largest party in parliament and tonight's result means they enter the federal legislature for the first time this after having been a magnet for controversy here in germany with a deliberately provocative campaign as take a closer look at what the f.t. has in store for the country. was the result they'd been dreaming of not only has the f.t. made it into the german parliament it's become the third biggest parts and many are calling it a seismic shift. after the leaders a promising to change the country. german government whichever way it is formed dress warmly we will haunt 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. we don't want the makeup 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 almost got elected to the bundestag in twenty thirteen but ended up just shy of five percent needed. but the a.f.d.c. electoral fortunes change with chancellor merkel's reaction to the twenty fifty migration crisis it jumped on the issue and managed to get into a number of regional assemblies. it's often blot lawmaking or cause for rory with scandalous rhetoric and fiery clashes it's likely to carry those tactics into the federal the same way. as news of the election results spread hundreds of people converged on the air. the headquarters to test against. the a.f.d. is dividing germany and its rise could make german politics fiery.

we've just heard of the scandalous rhetoric that the f.t. has been using in their campaign and it seems to have worked because look at this the number of voters that they've managed to get from other parties from the c.d.u. c.s.u. bloc alone they've managed to get over one million voters that's incredible and that's not exclusive to the c.d.u. c.s.u. bloc you can see right across all the other parties they've managed to get more votes from from other parties but where exactly are these voters coming from let's look at the german map to just see that the dock blue areas are where the voters seem to be concentrated and very clearly they are in the east of the country now in these regions so in this states in the east of the country the states are less diverse they are less economically well off than other parts of the country and so they do appear to be more sympathetic to the message of the d. but that's not to say that the east is exclusively for the f.t.

as you can see in this in this graph i'd like to call it the cd you did enjoy twenty seven percent of the vote from that stronghold that you just said of the a.f.p. and in the west as well the a.f.p. is also getting support from that region but what does this all mean for german politics looking to the future well terry must've has all the answers for us well thanks needed to have someone who can maybe help us break down those numbers for us tell us what it means particularly the f.t.'s bakery we have crist responding gaiter political correspondent my fellow anchor thanks for being with us so late into the night christopher was talk about the. they are going to enter parliament as the third strongest party in their parliament with seven different parties how do they do it well they've always positioned themselves as an anti-establishment part of the narrative. you know we tell it as it is we puncture the empty rhetoric that comes from from government ministers and there's

a certain type of voter that likes that kind of narrative what has really boosted their popularity though is their very stark criticism of chancellor merkel's decision back in twenty fifteen to open germany's borders and let in over a million refugees that particular position feeds on the fear is and the anger of many people particularly in east germany over that decision and has really allowed them to to win thirteen percent of the electorate what can we expect from the a d in the book we heard from one of the party's leading candidates alexander gul. that he's going to hunt merkel what can we expect well in general we can expect much more fractious much more polarized parliament in terms of the style of debate you know there are some very radical elements representing the f.t. moving into parliament we have racists we have anti semites we have hardline

nationalists gallant when he says we're going to hunt. the chancellor and her government. on one level i think he just means you know that they will be making the government's life difficult at every corner which is you know what an opposition needs to do specifically he's referring to a plan that he has with the a.f.p. too. to set up a parliamentary inquiry into chancellor merkel and her decision back in twenty fifteen to open the country's borders his problem is going to be to set up that kind of parliamentary inquiry you need twenty five percent of the assembly he only has thirteen so it's going to be tough for him to actually come good on that plan christopher thank you so much t.w. political correspondent and anchor chris for spring day you're welcome. transfer uncle michael has already ruled out working with the after party to form

a governing coalition which leaves only one realistic option but bringing together the chancellor's most likely partners looks like it's going to be challenging to say the least. business business business that's what the free democrats that want to pounce but they also staunchly support the european union and are now back in parliament after four years of absence the reform going for in the 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

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 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 merican or whoever we will take our country and our people back again . so we go in. and promises like that only underscore the importance at the coming coming. let's bring in chris brogan european here from berlin for university is a political analyst there chris christie christophe's just talked to christopher christoph tell us about the possibility for chancellor merkel cobbling together what appears to be a rather unlikely coalition between four very different parties indeed it does seem unlikely it is going to be difficult. we have seen this kind of to make a coalition at the state level already we've seen it twice once it failed we now have it. and it seems to be going ok so there are some positions where maybe

overlap is in fact possible then said he was quite outraged we are in an environmental party as well and it is just the means by which we go about achieving these environmentalist goals where we differ on this may have been resurrected this may have been a response but if this can be realized in practice. this may actually work out may work out but again it's a rather unlikely coalition we can expect some friction within it between all these different parties how stable would a coalition this kind of coalition government be. this debility once the coalition agreement is there will be relatively strong to the extent that german governments tend to be relatively stable michael herself said we like stability we don't want a minority government for the same reason what it will limit is the kind of leeway that america will have to really get her own policies through because she will be hemmed in not just on to science by the f.t.p.

and the green party but also by the more conservative wing of her own party and by the sea as you know we've heard some noises within chancellor merkel c.d.u. party that they still would kind of like to maybe go back into a four into a grand coalition with the social democrats of the social democrats would be willing social democrats right now to say they're not going to go into another grand coalition but could they change their tune in the coming weeks again in politics everything is possible but different things are differently probable i think this one is quite improbable especially given the rhetoric that we've now from the s.p.d. already and it will be disastrous for them i think electorally because i think being in a position is much more popular among the base it's a very tough coalition negotiations ahead kristoff miriam from berlin's pre-university thank you so much if you. let's get some reaction from across the atlantic our correspondent causton phenomena standing by for us in

washington constant is the german election getting much attention there in the u.s. capital. not really to be honest the most prominent politician to have reacted on the elections is john mccain the republican senator and foreign policy expert he congratulated uncle america in a tweet and praised the importance of the american german alliance but there have been no official statements from the white house all the state department at least not yet and also no tweet from donald trump the president apparently has been busy with other things most notably his escalating battled with u.s. sports. over the weekend attacked a number of american football players saying they should be fired if they need during the playing of the national anthem instead of standing and he also picked a fight with some basketball and baseball players if you like this this absence

of massive reaction from political washington is a good sign because it shows that nobody is really of worried about the situation in germany of course the media have reported on the election and they're focused on things like of course the fact that america will stay on that the a if he is in the in the in the stock and then the question what is a jamaican coalition ok you're talking about president trump they're picking fights well he and chancellor merkel haven't always seen eye to eye on the chancellor criticized him on foreign policy in the run up to the german election trump has described germany as being very very bad on trade policy what will the trump ministration be hoping for from chancellor merkel as she enters her fourth term. well clearly under the american donald trump two very different personalities but they have been trying over the last eight months to establish some kind of working relationship and at the working level when you look at the under secretaries at the

department heads then clearly what we're hearing from both sides is that they're really trying hard to work together everybody agrees that the german american relationship is very important for both countries and so they're very pragmatic and trying to work things out there will be. different opinions still a number of issues trade you mentioned also on climate change also on how to deal with iran and north korea but the bottom line is most people here are quite happy to remain chancellor and that the fundamental basis of the german american relationship is very very strong carson thank you so much to carson phenomenon there talking to us live from washington. chancellor merkel is facing high expectations at home as well of course as she

tries to stitch together a viable coalition in the coming weeks and months but there are other stories in the world and edith brings us up to date on some of them well that's absolutely right terry thank you and we take you straight to iraq's autonomous kurdish region which is due to hold an independence referendum in the coming hours more than five million voters are registered to take part in the nonbinding ballot in spite of condemnation from baghdad akaroa and other regional powers for cad it's a chance to say they want to live under a single centralized government of their own making. the kurdish city of how the sight of a poison gas attack by saddam hussein's forces that killed thousands almost thirty years ago a symbol of why many here want to break away from iraqi control and create their own state. we support the referendum if it's in the interest of the people people not supported it will cause more wars or cause people to flee their

homes we have had enough of wars and deportation we do not want more wars and destruction of our homes. kurdish regional government president massoud barzani explained why he's pressing ahead for a vote you know that they are unfortunately the state that we have right now in iraq it is a theocratic sectarian state. now. it is stuff i would like to underline that we are never ever going back to baghdad to renegotiate for us in baghdad iraqi prime minister hyder al a body has condemned the referendum. what. the map of iraq is endangered by a tense and division and tearing us apart discrimination between iraqi citizens on a nationalistic or ethnic basis exposes iraq to dangers known only to god and

turkey's deputy prime minister back here both said kurdish leaders were playing with fire and would be the first to be burned many world leaders have also asked kurdish leadership to postpone the referendum but they have shrugged off the pressure and are still planning to hold the vote later today. time now for some of the other stories making news around the world japan's prime minister shinzo is expected to announce snap elections on monday the country could go to the polls next month a year ahead of the shuttle is enjoying rising support a major tensions with north korea he's expected to order a major economic stimulus package as part of his company on by sun. police in the u.s. state of tennessee say one woman has been killed and several others injured after a mass gunman opened fire in a church behaving the actions of a church who helped fight off the assailant the motive is not yet clear

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. the new restrictions will take effect next. beauty. nearly forty four thousand competitors hit the streets of germany's capital for the berlin marathon on sunday and kenyans won both the men's and women's races athletes were up against foggy conditions which made it tough for the top male athletes who were aiming to break the world record of just under two hours and three minutes and you keep chugging i won the men's race for the second time in his career but mr new record by more than thirty seconds. gladys to run or won the women's race in just over two hours and twenty. well that's definitely good news for me but you're

watching the news live from berlin more coming at the top of the hour and of course you can always get all the latest news and information and get an update on the election to all of our web site is to w dot com but in the meantime we leave you with the winners and the losers of germany's big election night. that i say i am i am i didn't i didn't.

i am we. thank you.

election victory number four. until america remains germany's chancellor. her political career began in one nine hundred eighty nine when the berlin wall

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a difference be good for the. magazine d w. d w true diversity. where the world of science is at home in many languages. on a lot of programming going there you know. now with us our innovations magazine for in asia the us from every week and always looking to the future fund d w dot com science and research for asia. even when she's in the limelight uncle america's never keen on taking center stage the german chancellor prefers to avoid the public displays of power enjoyed by many of her contemporaries the.