Germans Vote Amid Economic Worries, Threats

Germans voted yesterday on whether to give Chancellor Angela Merkel a second term at the helm of Europe’s largest economy, as the country faces rising unemployment and threats by Islamic extremists over Germany’s role in Afghanistan.

Merkel is hoping enough of the nation’s 62.2 million eligible voters support her conservative Christian Democratic Union so she can end her current coalition with the leftist Social Democrats and form a center-right coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats.

“Merkel did a good job and I want her to stay,” said Nicole Selka, 32, as she pushed her 18-month-old son in a stroller outside a Berlin polling station.

Security was tight Sunday across Germany, following a rash of threats by Islamic extremists who threatened retaliation if Germany does not pull its 4,200 troops out of the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

Merkel and her main challenger, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the Social Democrats, ignored the Islamic threats in their final rallies, focusing instead on the key domestic issues of jobs and economic recovery. On Sunday, both voted at their local polling stations in Berlin, accompanied by their spouses.