Merkel may announce bid for fourth term today

AFP, Berlin :
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party on Friday announced a surprise weekend news conference at which she is widely expected to announce plans to seek a fourth term in elections next year.
Following weeks of speculation whether she would remain at the helm of Europe’s top economic power, Merkel, 62, will address reporters at 1800 GMT Sunday after a meeting of leaders of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.
German media and senior conservatives have been saying for weeks that Merkel would seize the opportunity of the meeting to throw her hat in the ring, ahead of her party’s annual congress starting December 6.
A Merkel re-election bid, which polls indicate would have a strong chance of succeeding, will be welcome news in many capitals seeking an anchor of stability after the dual shocks of Brexit and Donald Trump’s election as US president.
Merkel, who has led Germany since 2005, is widely regarded to be Europe’s most powerful leader.
But despite ever-louder calls for her to declare whether she would run again in a general election expected in September or October 2017, she has only said she would make the announcement “at the appropriate time”.