After 16 years leading Germany, Angela Merkel's time is up, and her country is set for a shift to the left
CBSN
Berlin — German Chancellor Angela Merkel is about to leave her post as leader of Europe's biggest economy after 16 years in power. Just a few months ago, the race to succeed her looked over before it really even started, with her center-right party's candidate, Armin Laschet, holding a solid lead in the polls.
But days before Germans were to cast their votes to elect a new government on Sunday, September 26, Merkel's anointed successor found his campaign wallowing in the wake of gaffes and at pains to convince a flood-battered nation that now is not the time for a sharp shift to the left in both domestic and foreign policy.
"The promise that he entered the election campaign with, that he is a continuation of Angela Merkel's pragmatic but warm style, he is not living up to that promise," Professor Christoph Nguyen, a political scientist at the Free University of Berlin, told CBS News. "There have been some key gaffes, where he has been seen laughing during a very sombre speech, during the floods."
