>> hello, and welcome to this special on "the journal." here is what is ahead. an incredible electoral victory for angela merkel and her conservatives. a sweeping success. the prospect of an absolute majority in the german parliament. the free democrats the big losers of the evening. they are out of the bundestag for the first time in their postwar history.

welcome to this "journal" special. not only does germany want angela merkel to continue leading the country, they want her to do so without a junior coalition partner. or going to be talking to our correspondent at the --dquarters of merkel's cdu we are going to be talking to our correspondent at the headquarters of merkel's cdu. what we know right now, monica? hashe absolute majority gone into the background again, because the latest projected csults we have now, see the slightly down. they are still in the lead with 41.8%. the spd@25.5%. below the fdp important 5% threshold, and no

longer in parliament as they are. 8.5%.ft party at the greens at 8.4%. the brand no eurosceptic -- new eurosceptic party a bit further away now. 4.8 at the moment. what does it mean in terms of seed distribution? -- seat distribution? cdu is below the needed number of seats. coalitions,possible we are back to the mice -- most likely coalition, a grand coalition. in terms of numbers, it would be to join for the cdu/csu forces with the greens. both sides did not seem to be

that keen on that possibility. >> thank you. we will have more as the evening progresses. angela merkel has hailed her conservative's victory. rival, peeremocrat steinbruck, coming in second place. greeted angelay merkel at the headquarters of her cdu party in berlin. a landslide like this was beyond their wildest dreams. results, a resounding endorsement for chancellor .erkel and her policies >> dear friends, your cheers show us that we can all celebrate. this is a super result. i would like to thank the voters

who have given us so clearly their trust. and i can promise them we will treat that trust responsibly. thank you. many here were disappointed about losing their coalition partner, the fdp, booted out of a bundestag and government. that this win was due in part to the chancellor herself tempered the sadness. chancellor merkel is very popular. she has good policies. she is mrs. europe. we have to thank her for this victory. >> a super result. i did not expect it. >> the result is fantastic. we are winning massive numbers of votes. without the fdp, there is the question of what the future holds. forhere may be a majority angela merkel's conservatives,

or a grand coalition with the social democrats. whatever the outcome, chancellor merkel can rest assured she delivered exactly what her partner wanted -- party wanted. >> let's see what happens. we have another election results. tonight's results, and that makes me really happy too. let's go live to simon young. he's at the cdu headquarters. placet now be the party to be this evening for the politically minded. we people as surprised as buy the margins of this victory -- by the margins of this victory? >> jubilation at the moment. if you can hear the music in the background, they are gearing up to welcome angela merkel back onto the stage. she will say a few more words to her supporters in a few moments.

surprise, because of course no one is predicting this historically positive result for the christian democrats. they must be wondering if it was not the right strategy to lend a few votes. it might have given the free democrats the chance to govern together. angela merkel said she will wait and see how the numbers really play out before she can start talking about coalitions. >> the past is not going to return. it looks like the fdp is out. what do people think about the cdu about this victory? is this the night of angela merkel alone? >> absolutely. people are saying that merkel is a factor that led them to this victory. they build their campaign on the safe pair of hands that she represents. her cautious approach has appealed to voters.

that has above all brought them this. you can call it a landslide. >> thanks, simon from the cdu headquarters in berlin. politicale, our chief correspondent in the studio with us. what do you think? we were talking about the possible scenarios for the outcome of this election. this is not what we spoke about. >> certainly not if the cdu could govern alone, meaning they would have an absent majority in the next bundestag. lookingoment, it's not that way. the numbers have been changing all along. they could change back. it was looking like a strong success was in the cards, but that it would be so strong for the christian democrats and for angela merkel, that is not something people predicted. these are numbers worth -- worthy of helmut kohl. if the cdu were in a position to

govern alone, we are looking even further back. the last time that happened was in the 1950's. these are truly historic results for the party. >> the euro, it was a pivotal issue, wasn't it? this was about the euro in many ways. >> it was not a pivotal issue in the campaign. was something that both of the main candidates kept off to the side. one reason for that is that they often agreed on euro policy. most of the votes held in the theestag had support from opposition social democrats as well as from angela merkel's christian democrats. it is complex. maybe it's not something we want to talk about. one of the interesting things we saw this evening was the rise of a new party called the alternatives for germany. almost making it into the only one could do so,

or two points away from that crucial 5% threshold. that is the party that wants to talk about the euro, but not necessarily in terms of being pro-euro. they do not want to see more bailouts for southern european countries. they would rather see them leave the eurozone. we will be talking about that later in this program. for now, melinda, stay with us. of spd has seen its share the vote increase, but has fallen well short of the conservative cdu. social democrat plans for a coalition government with the greens under peer steinbruck have come to nothing. leader called the results disappointing. despite an upswing of support, steinberg had this to say -- steinbruck had this to say. >> we did not attain the result we wanted. inmanaged to result

something better than 2009, but not a result that brings us to the outcome we wanted. the situation is very fluid. the spd should avoid speculating about the formation of a government. the ball is in angela merkel's court. she has to find a majority. certainly a better evening for the spd. terry martin is over at the spd -- bitter evening for the spd. terry martin is over at the spd. what have you been hearing their? was it the candidate, the spd message, or both? trying to focus on the positive parts of this election result. from their perspective, there are two positive outcomes. one is that they improve their showing by 3 presented -- percentage points.

chancellor merkel cannot continue her current coalition. the spd is trying to come to terms with the fact that even 26% -- which is what the projections show now -- that amounts to their second worst election result in postwar history. the party is trying to put a brave face on it, but this was not what they were expecting. aty are in a state of shock the prospect of the christian forming aand the csu majority in parliament. that is a scary prospect for the social democrats. they are considering the possibility of forming a grand coalition if asked to form one by chancellor merkel, if that turns out to be necessary. that is a back burner this evening at the head -- party headquarters. they do not want to speculate this evening.

made a statement about the process of recovery, that he will take longer and be tougher than many here expected. >> were going to go to angela merkel. she's going to speak to her supporters in a bit. before we go to her, we have time for another question. you mentioned two positive aspects of the spd focus. what went wrong for them? that's right. they went into this election, the social democrats, hoping they would be able to form a coalition with the greens, that support would be sufficient to make that happen. a few months ago, the spd, they were polling roughly even with chancellor merkel's conservatives and the free democrats. that changed radically in the last couple of months. the greens did not do as well as they were hoping. they saw their support collapse

in recent months. the spd did not perform as they were hoping to. their candidate, peer steinbruck , was considered to be someone not quite up to the job. going intoral gaffes this election. the campaign has been deeply criticized, that the spd simply lacked focus and coherence, perhaps the party leadership was not behind the candidate. a certain amount of infighting. comeclear the spd did not up with a good -- sans the policies these spd -- some of the policies these spd were advocating, blanket minimum wage .nd dual citizenship they were simply no match for angela merkel. >> thanks for now. what do you think? are they discussing the possibility of a grand coalition tonight? >> quite possibly with gritted

teeth, because it's not something they were particularly keen on. with the christian democrats that strong and the other parties that week, the spd is the only likely coalition partner for her. if you read between the lines of some of the statements that have been made this evening by spd leaders, you see that certainly it is an option that they're going to consider. it won't be easy. their grassroots supporters and members have said, we are not all keen on this partly because the last time around there has been a grand coalition before led by the christian democrats, social democrats the junior partner. both parties suffered after that . the spd got their worst results ever. it is not something they are eager to repeat. >> if we step back for a minute stop the coalition

possibility analysis, does this election result that -- mean that germany is becoming more conservative or more pro-merkel? thet is not clear that country as a whole has become more conservative. party allegiances are weaker than they have been in the past. we see a lot more swing voters going to different parties, depending on what they stand for. one thing the election tells us is that the predominant concern of voters is the economy, and they ascribed the most economic confidence to the party of the chancellor and to angela merkel. >> thanks for that. it was a historic night for the ftp, but not the type of historic a party wants to have. if the current numbers are confirmed, angela merkel's coalition partners will be her former coalition partners. they will have racked up their worst ever fall from grace. in their time in the coalition,

they could not make good on any of their promises to voters. here is why. >> a deep sigh, and then an incredulous silence. this is a historical moment. give hundreds of f -- to fdpresd of -- hundreds of supporters, it is a painful one. it is clear this is a disastrous performance. s struggled todate keep their cool. >> it is clear that this is the worst result the fdp has recorded so far. it's a difficult hour for the fdp. as lead candidate, i take responsibility. it is the most bitter hour for

the free democratic party. >> the grassroots members are in shock. it was clear that the fdp's entrance into parliament was on the line. opinion polls have been saying so for months. now the worst has happened, and party supporters are gutted. we knew it was going to be tight, but personally, i didn't think this was going to happen. i thought it was going to be bad, but not under 5%. a really poor result. i'm speechless. >> a bitter result for teh fd -- the fdp. it is clear the party needs a new profile. >> as we heard therefore the fdp , a complete debacle for the first time. let's go to the ftp right now. -- fdp right now.

a lot of empty space behind you. how is the reality sinking in? now that isty right only a couple dozen people left here, what was supposed to be the election party -- people beenat the grassroots have saying that they felt that the free democrats have failed to some of the key issues they feel their party stands for. many feel it was a particularly bad campaign. overperceive the campaign .he second vote see this as particularly humiliating, particularly the top candidate saying, if you want angela merkel, vote for the fdp. point,el this was a low

the many changes are needed to bounce back from this. >> very empty headquarters right now. thank you. it is been an evening of surprises, not only for the cdu, and for the fdp not even getting into parliament. the alternatives for germany, form seven months ago. we're going to go to the afd in a moment. merkel has already spoken to them once, saying she thought the results were excellent. supporters her for -- supporters.

"angie" have accompanied her on the campaign trail. ♪ looking at her third term in office. the alternatives for germany was founded seven months ago. an anti-euro protest party. it may enter the bundestag. we heard from monica, 4.8%. these numbers need to be

confirmed in the course of this evening. it is a shade under that 5% hurdle for the german bundestag. our correspondent, richard walker, is at the afd election event. he sent this report on what could be a very long night as we wait for those final results. >> over the past week, a lot of people were asking, could the afd turn out to be the salvation of this year's election? could they get into the bundestag? it is looking like there is a nearly sensation. for .9%, just very slightly under the 5% mark. %, just very slightly under the 5% mark. every time it looks more likely they are not quite going to make it -- and yet still it's quite an achievement for a party that only was founded this february,

and only had a few months to pull that support together, much of it coming from the free democrats. there was a particularly big cheer when it came out that the fdp were going to get less votes than the afd. ae result is also somewhat of slap in the face for angela merkel. afdpeople who voted for the did so in part as a repudiation of her policies in the euro crisis. atthat was richard walker the alternatives for germany headquarters. we were talking about the afd in the run-up to this election, and how it was the wild card. we didn't think we would get quite this close. it lived up to its reputation as the wildcard in our discussion. what did they tap into? what is this party done to get it success? >> it is only been in the past week that it has looked like they could make it into the bundestag.

at the moment they are not over that threshold they would need to cross in order to get in. it's very close indeed. basically, the euro was not much discussed in the election campaign, but it has been the topic of the past four years. we have seen a huge amount of consensus between the christian democrats, the governing party, and the opposition parties like the social democrats and greens who voted repeatedly for the government's policies on the , namely to impose austerity policies in southern european countries. to provide time, bailouts through the european stability mechanism. the afd opposes that. they wanted open discussion about the possibility of dissolving the eurozone as we know it. they say that discussion needs to be had. many of them are former members of the christian democrats. they want to look at other options. they say that at the moment, things have been papered together that don't work

economically. >> we will be seeing that conversation soon. we're going to go to brussels now. the european in perspective and reaction. it must be a very pleased brussels this evening. i'm sure they're hoping she will be continuing her support for the eurozone. president hascil already extended his congratulations. he has said he's looking forward to continuing his work with angela merkel. brussels is pleased that germany has chosen a power that is committed to the euro. are up in theems air. many are looking closely at how this -- with which result this election will come out, because there is an increasing gulf between germany and the rest of europe.

since the greek problems started than 12ars ago, more governments have been toppled as a result of this crisis. with the germany the only big this is not likely to ease the psychological and political problems in the european union as a whole. germany is becoming a little more distant from the rest of the european union and eurozone. >> thanks so much. the election brought some bitter disappointment for the greens. they lost ground compared to their record result of 10% in 2009, slipping by two points to just 8%. the co-party chair has said the result was a huge defeat. and other senior party figure also admitted defeat, saying there was no chance of a red

green coalition with the spd malik operation with -- well a cooperation with merkel unlikely -- spd, while a cooperation with merkel unlikely. what went wrong with the greens? asked two coleaders of the party that question, and i did not get a straight answer. they were be -- there will be a bitter discussion behind closed doors. this has been a crushing defeat for the party. they have not only done worse than they did in the last general election, but they fell far short of their goal of being able to form a coalition government with the social democrats. it's a bitter defeat for them. >> thanks for now, from the green headquarters. mentioned, it has been a

historic evening here in berlin. germany has voted. the country looking at the possibility of a government led by the cdu alone. we will leave you with some of the key images from this election evening. ♪

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