Angela Merkel’s conservatives won the most votes in a German election on Sunday, putting her on track for a third term, but it was unclear whether she would be able to preserve her centre-right coalition or be forced to work with her leftist rivals, an exit poll showed. An exit poll from public broadcaster ARD showed Chancellor Merkel’s conservative bloc – the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) on 42 percent, their strongest score since 1990.But the exit polls did not give a clear indication of whether her Free Democrat (FDP) allies, on 4.7 percent, would make it back into parliament. A new eurosceptic party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), was hovering at 4.9 percent — a whisper below the 5 percent threshold for winning seats.
Support for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) stood at 26 percent, the environmentalist Greens were on 8 percent and the hardline Left party was at 8.5 percent.
