After the chancellor’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) sank to historically low ratings in polls, Merkel appeared at the western German city of Aachen in hopes of convincing the remaining conservative electorate to back her party and its lead candidate, Armin Laschet.
As Merkel prepares to step down after the Sunday general election, she warned that the emergence of a left-leaning government could potentially “strangulate” businesses with new taxes.
“In some election campaigns you get the impression that it’s perhaps about this or that topic but that in the end it perhaps doesn’t really matter who governs Germany,” Merkel said.
“But I want to tell you from my experience that in the political life of a chancellor there are moments where it’s anything but irrelevant who governs, where you have to take the right decision.”
“It’s about keeping Germany stable. It’s about your future,” said the outgoing chancellor.
In response to Merkel’s reported warning, SPD Secretary-General Lars Klingbeil argued that the CDU was “throwing with dirt” because it lacked a convincing election program.
Rival candidate and vice-chancellor Olaf Scholz, from the Social Democrats, held his last rally Saturday in his constituency in Potsdam.
Latest polls presently predict a very close race, with the Social Democrats (SPD) leading on 25% and the CDU on 22%.