A chastened Merkel soldiers on

German voters have delivered some hard lessons for Angela Merkel as she sets about governing for a historic fourth term as Chancellor.

The election to the Bundestag of the first far-right German nationalists in a half-century — more than 90 members of the extremist anti-immigrant, anti-Islam party Alternative for Germany (AfD) — should leave her in no doubt about the challenges created by her disastrous decision in 2015 to throw open the borders to more than a million Syrian and other migrants. In four years AfD’s vote share has tripled to 12.6 per cent.

In a pointed reference to the party, Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel bemoaned the fact “true Nazis”, as he described the newly elected members, would once again be part of the Bundestag.

Ms Merkel’s achievement in winning another four years has the potential to put her on a par with post-war figures such as Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl. Her Christian Democratic Union is on the nose with voters, however. It received its lowest vote share in decades. Despite Germany’s outstanding economic record under her leadership across 12 years, and her role as a world leader and “the most powerful woman in the world”, barely a third of Germans voted for her. The CDU’s vote fell from 41 per cent in 2014 to about 32 per cent.

No wonder, in her post election address, Ms Merkel lamented: “We’re not going to beat around the bush; we were hoping for a better result.” To govern, she will seek a new coalition, most likely with the free-market Free Democrats and the Greens. Each party won 10 per cent. Her previous “grand coalition” with the Social Democratic Party (SPD) is not an option. After a slump in its vote, the SPD wants to rebuild on its own.

Germany is Europe’s economic powerhouse, and strong German leadership on the European and world stage is vital. Whatever new alliance she forms, Ms Merkel cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of her previous term. She must accept that Germany is not immune to anti-immigration sentiment apparent elsewhere in Europe, which was one of the main factors in the Brexit decision.