Sunday 20 November 2016 6:35 pm

One more time? Angela Merkel confirms she seek a fourth term

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has today confirmed she intends to run for a fourth term.

Merkel announced she planned to stand as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, and therefore Chancellor, again.

"I thought about this for an endlessly long time. The decision [to run] for a fourth term is – after 11 years in office – anything but trivial," Merkel reported by Reuters as saying.

There had been reports earlier in the day that Merkel, who has held the office since 2005 and was elected for her third term in 2013, was on the verge of making such a statement.

General elections are due to take place in Germany next year. Popularity for the country's right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been growing, partly thanks to people's displeasure with the current Chancellor's more open door policy to immigration during the refugee crisis.

Particularly following June's Brexit vote and Donald Trump's White House race win earlier this month, politicians are admitting they need to give some weight to voters' worries about globalisation, or risk losing their backing entirely.

Speaking at the Lord Mayor's banquet shortly after the US election, Prime Minister Theresa May said: "If we believe, as I do, that liberalism and globalisation continue to offer the best future for our world, we must deal with the downsides."

If she is re-elected, items among Merkel's to-do list will include helping to negotiate the terms of Brexit and building a relationship with Trump. Ahead of his recent farewell trip to Berlin, outgoing US President Barack Obama described Merkel as his "closest international partner".