Germany's
Angela Merkel has said she will step down as chancellor in 2021, following recent
election setbacks.
"I
will not be seeking any political post after my term ends," she told a
news conference in Berlin.
She also
said she would not seek re-election as leader of the centre-right CDU party in
December. She has held the post since 2000.
The CDU
was severely weakened in Sunday's poll in the state of Hesse, the latest in a
series of setbacks.
Both the
CDU and its national coalition partners, the Social Democrats, were 10
percentage points down on the previous poll there.
The
election comes just weeks after Mrs Merkel's Bavarian sister party, the CSU, suffered huge losses in a
state parliament vote.
Parties
like the left-leaning Greens and the far-right, anti-immigration AfD have grown
in national support following the 2017 general election, as backing for the
major centre parties has waned.
BBC
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