THE lEFT AND rIGHT AREN'T VIABLE:

Merkel became chancellor just five years later and after Kohl, is the longest-serving chancellor in the postwar era. Her tenure has been marked by both stability and economic prosperity.

But it was also shaped by various global and domestic crises over time, and Merkel managed to maintain her political footing after each one. 

The 2008 global financial crisis and the subsequent euro debt crisis were major early challenges, but Merkel still managed to steer the CDU/CSU union to reelection in 2013, with the bloc nearly winning a historic outright majority.

Even after her controversial decision to let one million migrants into Germany, during the refugee crisis of 2015, Merkel still managed to get her party re-elected in 2017, despite a backlash that led to the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Over time, the party she has led for two decades has weakened electorally and Merkel's long tenure has overseen ever-increasing voter fragmentation, with non-traditional parties like the Greens rising and stalwarts like CDU and center-left SPD falling.

But Merkel herself has managed to stay afloat and ahead of the competition. Though wounded, she remains the most popular politician in the country to this day.

Merkel had pledged that her current chancellorship would be her last. Now, she faces the coronavirus pandemic, which she has referred to as the greatest challenge the country has faced since WWII.

As she crosses the 20-year mark, this could be her biggest test yet. But in this final and critical crisis, Germans are already giving her leadership a boost.  Some 80% of voters were pleased with Merkel's management of the COVID-19 crisis, according to a poll by broadcaster ZDF's Forschungsgruppe Wahlen.

Even her languishing Grand Coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD, which previously had a 28% approval rating, has risen to 37% in the polls. 

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