this. longest serving political leader says the time has come for change german chancellor angela merkel says this is her fourth and final term in office. today also announced that she will resign as head of her c.d.u. conservative party at the end of the year disastrous regional election results just one factor forcing the chancellor to plan her departure after more than a decade in power also coming up but as one leader prepares to exit another prepares to enter rio de janeiro's celebrates into the night its new president.

the man they call the tropical trauma he's a right wing populist who has already bitterly divided the country. to review. good to have you with us tonight germany's chancellor angela merkel says that she will relinquish the leadership of her party in december and step down as chancellor at the next election in twenty twenty one the move follows disastrous results for her conservatives and recent state elections chancellor merkel has been at the for fraud of german politics for almost two decades but she has been under siege domestically since last year's national elections. an earthquake

a bombshell a day of destiny there's been no shortage of drastic descriptions. announcement. essence of. firstly at the coming c.d.u. party conference in december i have decided not to run again for c.d.u. party leader and secondly this fourth term is my last as chancellor of germany but at the election in twenty twenty one i won't run again a c.d.u. chancellor candidate nor will i run for seat in parliament nor will i seek any other political office. and. merkel has previously said that the two jobs chancellor and party leader should go together but after eighteen years heading the christian democrats the moment has come where she feels she can only do one of them. a disastrous result in the election in hesse or should be seen as an opportunity for the whole government to change merkel said above all the

cooperation between christian democrats and social democrats needs to improve for their part merkel's s.p.d. coalition partners are also licking their wounds after a terrible result in sunday's regional vote their leader andrea knowledges whose future in the job was also being questioned it was clear but lessons have to be learned at a national level. you didn't fret so we are absolutely determined to ensure that we can continue our work in the coalition it needs more commitment and margit stimulation to leave behind the problems of the past few months. in. opposition parties are already seizing their chance to capitalize on miracles weakness. america is giving up the wrong job this won't make government more stable it will merely slow the death of the coalition. for

long. but the much diminished grand coalition will limp along for now with a severely weakened chancellor at its head who will follow her a c.d.u. leader several candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring there could yet be a public battle for the soul of the c.d.u. for now merkel's tone remains thoughtful and sober as ever but as the chancellor spoke it was impossible not to feel that slowly she is giving up power yagni i'm against it has always been my wish to carry out my state and party judi's with dignity and one day to leave them with dignity but i know that in politics this cannot always happen in a planned way i split the plan. that is the measured miracle way of saying i may not be chancellor for very much longer.

well i'm joined now by our chief political correspondent melinda cranes are melinda i guess you know we've had to come the end of the medical error is beginning i mean how important is that for germany it's very significant and she has been head of that party head of the conservative c.d.u. for eighteen years she has been chancellor for over twelve years so she is a very historic figure in this country she has taken the c.d.u. and brought it into the center of the political spectrum opened it for different groups opened it for new topics and issues modernized it as you know many people in the party didn't like where she took her and took it but in fact she has made it electable for many people who would never have cast a vote for the conservatives before hand she also has a very important legacy again controversial in her policy on immigration and she accepted hundreds of thousands of immigrants in twenty fifteen she was

controversial but also often viewed as an important leader for what she did during the financial crisis in the sovereign debt crisis in europe so she is a major figure for the history books what she has done today is to ensure that she now will time her exit and shape her exit herself rather than being a victim of a messy transition process so she will now be leaving with some dignity and control and i think that's very important for her where this change takes us we don't know you know certainly it's the unimportant close to an era in which you she wants to control the controllable z. if you will and there were two announcements today she's going to step down as party leader at the end of the year and then she will step down as chancellor at the end of this term and twenty twenty one what does that mean though for the coalition government in power right now this coalition has been riven with divisions do. visions within the parties themselves divisions between the parties particularly between the chancellors conservatives and their bavarian sister party

the c.s.u. and the chancellor herself today as she made to announce a decision that the government has been conveying an image that is absolutely unacceptable and the fact is they have come up with some pretty solid legislative achievements that message has not been getting out so what her decision does is it gives them a chance to press the restart button it basically gives them a chance to separate themselves from the controversial person of the head of the c.d.u. the chancellor herself and also to begin to look toward the future rather than the past and constantly rehash the decision about immigration which is what's been happening over the past six months whether this change really does usher in a new dynamic though depends both on who succeeds her as head of the conservative party and on what the other parties do will we see other heads roll in the coming weeks that is

a very important thing to keep not speaking of parties you know the story is will say that i'm left with the far right party represented in every regional parliament that's one part of the story but there's another story as well the green absolutely is and this is certainly a story that can reassure all of those who are asking themselves is democracy and day injured in germany and certainly the far right the rise of the far right at times has been portrayed as a real danger to germany and it certainly does deserve our attention but the fact is the party that has gained most in those two regional elections that were so crucial the party that has gained most from the disarray of the big parties the christian democrats the social democrats is the green party firmly rooted in the liberal democratic political spectrum a party with a lot of modern ideas a party that does not simplify its message as a party that is the antithesis of populism so i think that is a very positive story as we look at your of democracy our chief political

correspondent linda gray and it's always thank you. all right now we go to brazil where the far right candidate. has won a sweeping victory in that country's presidential election no official results give him more than fifty five percent of the vote that's well ahead of the leftist candidate for. the final results were announced. on the streets a sign of brazil's division over its new leader. change has come to brazil after a decade and a half of leftist and centrist rule the far right has emerged triumphant. like it because it represents a shift in power we had the same group ruling the country for sixteen years and these results are making the people happy. i think it will be good for brazil we need a change i'm sick of so much corruption there are many things we need to change.

yet others see a darker side to the news as any social. element these elections in reality have revealed the worst of mankind to have shown the soul of human beings this is how i feel about it i feel sad for really sad piano essentially that down. the division in brazilian society it was clear to see after the results came in sunday evening a crowd of both sinatras supporters gathered to celebrate outside the prison where former leftist candidate lula da silva serving time was the election front runner until he was jailed on corruption charges. by. and in the city anger towards the winner with many protesters shouting not him. many fear the sudden rise of both sinatra could mean a threat to their democracy he has praised dictators supported torture and just

before the elections he promised to purge the country of leftists. it is victory speech also not to appear to dial back his extreme views. but that is not the oh this is a country for us all brazilians by birth or heart. of diverse opinions colors and orientations as a defender of freedom i will lead a government which defends and protects the rights of citizens who comply with their duties and respect the laws they thought they. in two months brazil will begin to see what kind of change it voted for bill sonora will take office on january first. full our correspondent ophelia harms our routine joins us live now from rio de janiero it's good to see you we know that the campaign was very divisive and polarizing the question today will president but also now or will he seek to unify the country or do you think his presidency is going to just be

a continuation of what he delivered in his campaign. well what he did say after the election ended last night and his first president elect's speech we were hearing part of it in the report he said he will unify the country and this division between the us and them speech a very different speech to what we have been hearing in the weeks previous to the election where he said that he would be cleansing the country of all the leftists that they would have to abandon the country or be incarcerated this has been an unusual and then usually vile and come pain in brazil people within families and friends they have been fighting for between those who support of them and those who are opposing general scenario and he's very unpredictable so no one really knows if he's going to continue this unifying speech or he will continue to make more

divisive. well he will be saying more divisive things in the future yeah he is often compared to u.s. president don't trump he is also compared to the leader of the philippines mr do charity which is an even more extreme comparison knowing there what do you think his biggest priorities will be you know that he knows he's going to be taking power . well one of his most important priorities he mentioned this last night as well is to reform the ministries he wants to cut the number of ministries into half and he wants to change the leadership of the ministries to to not have politicians in front of them but technicians and experts instead he wants to reform the pension system in brazil which is very old and is causing a huge deficit to the country everywhere year and he also wants to privatized and

or eliminate about fifteen state owned companies and he has promised to end corruption which is one of the main reasons he has been elected by because they are fed up with the workers' party that they blame for this huge corruption scandals we know it's kind of like the brazilian version of a dream this was very very briefly what about his connections with the military will the military regain influence in brazil well that's what most people fear from him he has suggested to bring the military even to the streets to combat crime and in security he wants to reopen more military schools all over brazil and he also wants to have various members of the military within his cabinet he also suggested to pass a law on gun law so will this this has been preoccupying also n.g.o.s which fear that the protection of human rights be threatened in brazil during his

presidency or write a correspondent a few homes or routine on the story force in rio de janeiro if you think you very much. you're watching. with more news followed by the day you can join us that. we make up over a week watches of. the summer because of. the continent's future to be part of it and joining us youngsters as they share their stories their dreams and their challenges the seventy seven percent platform for the job.