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Merkel’s Big Victory Shakes Up German Party System

Merkel’s Big Victory Shakes Up German Party System

BERLIN—In national elections on Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), performed even better than their own polls suggested they would.

The CDU and its Bavaria-based sister party, the Christian Social Union, won 311 seats in parliament. The Social Democratic Party won 192 seats, the Left Party 64 and theGreen Party 63.

But Merkel’s victory comes at the price of losing her Free Democratic Party (FDP) coalition partner as the third-term chancellor works to form her new government, most likely in a coalition with the Social Democrats. The FDP failed to win the 5 percent of the vote required to join the Bundestag, or parliament.

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