A bittersweet victory for Angela Merkel after a bruising election

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel secured a fourth consecutive term after Sunday's heated federal election. That was perhaps the most unsurprising outcome, for no one - least of all the 63-year-old leader herself - would have expected any other result.

But rather than celebrating, Mrs Merkel is busy licking her wounds after recording her poorest general election result since first coming to power back in 2005.

Her conservative bloc - the ruling centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister-party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) - managed to secure just over 33 per cent of the vote, down sharply from 41.5 per cent in the last polls four years ago. It's a verdict, perhaps, on the Chancellor's controversial decision to open Germany's borders to more than a million refugees. The results are proof that there are widening divisions and extreme discontent among the people, many of whom clearly didn't buy into Mrs Merkel's portrayal of herself as a stable and predi…