GERMANY VOTES – AT 12:51 P.M. ET:   Germany goes to the polls today. Exit polls already project that Angela Merkel will remain as chancellor, but they also show large gains for a new, nationalist party, AfD, that has some people worrying about a return to the "old" Germany.  From BBC:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been re-elected for a fourth term in federal elections, exit polls suggest.

Her conservative CDU/CSU alliance won 32.5% of the vote, remaining the largest party in Germany's parliament, according to the ARD poll.

Its outgoing coalition partner, the social democratic SPD, said it would go into opposition after winning 20%.

In a result which shocked many, the nationalist AfD was on track to win 13.5%, making it the third party.

Addressing supporters, Mrs Merkel said she had hoped for a "better result" and talked about "extraordinary challenges".

She would listen, she said, to the "concerns and anxieties" of AfD voters in order to win them back.

And...

AfD's performance, better than forecast in opinion polls, means the right-wing party will have seats in the Bundestag for the first time.

Prominent AfD figure Frauke Petry said on Twitter (in German) that Germany had experienced an incomparable "political earthquake".

COMMENT:  A coalition government will have to be formed, and it's very unlikely that AfD, which is largely a response to Germany's immigration problem, will be asked to join.  But 13.5% of the vote is considerable, meaning the new party will be heavily represented in parliament. 

Germany is a proportional-representation country.  It's a bad system because rarely does the victorious party have enough votes to form a government of its own.  There are now six major parties.  Our system, with all its faults, is more efficient. 

September 24, 2017