The conservative union led by German sitting Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday defended its commanding role in the Bundestag (German parliament) with 32.5 percent of the vote, falling short of expectations with a 9-percentage-point gap compared with the election four years ago.
The union's main rival, Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by former European Parliament president Martin Schulz, also suffered a big setback in Sunday's election.
Meanwhile, the far-right party Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) unexpectedly made a historical breakthrough with 13.5 percent of votes, and became the third strongest party in the Bundestag.
LOWER SUPPORTS BUT MERKEL SAYS CDU REACHED ITS GOAL
The lower than expected margin will still offer a decent chance for Merkel to claim her fourth term as Chancellor.
Senior official of the CDU Volker Kauder told reporters after the election that the CDU had reached its expectation in the election, and Merkel will remain in office as chancellor and will be granted the mandatory to form the new cabinet.
In a televised speech after the election, Merkel told her supporters that "we have clear government mandate, and no government can be formed without us", admitting that her bloc had reached strategic goal in election though she had hoped for better results.
She also promised to win back voters of AfD with good policies, vowing to fight against illegal immigrants while protecting interests of legal citizens.
Despite Merkel's bitter victory, Andreas Quebbemann, member of the state parliament in Niedersachsen, said he was Very disappointed with the result.
"We lost so many voters because they dissatisfied with CDU's policy, such as the refugee policy. But they switched to AfD not because they believed AfD can provide solutions, but an expression of their dissatisfaction to us," Quebbemann told Xinhua.
"As to the coalition cabinet, there is only one option left for CDU -- joint FDP and the Green Party. But we have many differences with the Green Party. The coalition is bound to be a difficult one, but I believe the final compromise will be reached. Because this is politics," Quebbemann added.
Calling it a historical day because of AfD's breakthrough, David Mcallister, a CDU senior member and Chairman of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, told Xinhua that the conservative union has no choice but form a "Jamaica coalition" (so-called because the parties' colors match those of the Jamaican flag) with the Greens and liberal FDP.
"Though we have common ground, the three-party coalition government will meet plenty of challenges, because we have differences in the economic, diplomatic and many other aspects," said Mcallister.
MERKEL NEEDS TO REFLECT ON BITTER VICTORY
"The result showed that the next German government will face challenges," Hajo Funke, a professor from Free University Berlin, told Xinhua.
Funke said to some degree the result is a reflection of the partly failure of the grand coalition government between the Union Party and the SPD in the past four years, mostly in domestic issues, as the government failed to address enough the divide between the rich and poor.
Although German economy is booming and enjoying some of the best times since 2008/2009 global financial crisis, the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing. According to a survey by local media, social justice has become the second social problems in the country, following the refugee issues.
Gaps not only exist between the rich and the poor, but also among different regions. According to the newspaper Bild, about 27 percent of male voters in eastern Germany cast their ballots for the AfD, the highest ratio among all parties. Eastern Germany is the most less developed regions.
"The prices are climbing, the rent is increasing, but our salaries are increasing as quickly as living costs," said the 52-year-old repair worker Stephen Norman in Berlin, who voted for AfD.
"I'm heavily taxed, and all Germans are heavily taxed, but we don't want to use our money to support refugees. That is unfair!" Norman told Xinhua.
SPD POCKETS HISTORICAL LOW BUT REFUSES GRAND COALITION
In addition, the union's main rival SPD took just 20 percent of the vote and garnered the lowest vote since World War II, according to a preliminary exit poll.
For his part, Schulz said the election marked a "historic crash" for the SPD. But Thomas Oppermana, a senior official of the party, said Schulz will continue to be the president of the party despite the "crash" and led the renovation of the party.
According to local media ARD, Schulz said his party had no intention to form a coalition government with the conservative union and "will go to the opposite".
He said his party is a "strong bulwark" against would-be lawmakers from the right-wing AfD.
"We are a strong bulwark against the enemies of democracy that we now have in parliament," Schulz said in a television interview.
