The reports of Angela Merkel’s political demise have been greatly exaggerated

Once again, the pollsters got it wrong. Yesterday’s election in Saarland was supposed to be the beginning of the end for Angela Merkel, and the start of the SPD revival under their new leader Martin Schulz. And yet, against the odds, Merkel’s conservative CDU has beaten the left-leaning SPD by more than ten per cent, a result which bodes well for her election campaign this autumn, and her bid to win a record-breaking fourth term as Chancellor.

Last week, the signs for Merkel’s CDU seemed pretty bleak. Saarland’s CDU leader, so-called ‘Mini Merkel’ Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, went into this election with just one more seat than the resurgent SPD. With two consecutive polls putting her party a mere one per cent ahead, Saarland looked like the launch pad for Schulz’s big breakthrough. However despite these dire predictions, the CDU increased their vote here by five per cent, winning five more seats, two shy of an absolute majority.