In this combo from file photos taken between 2009 and 2016 German Chancellor Angela Merkel is shown wearing her iconic blazers, leading the weekly cabinet meeting in Berlin. Photos / AP
In this combo from file photos taken between 2009 and 2016 German Chancellor Angela Merkel is shown wearing her iconic blazers, leading the weekly cabinet meeting in Berlin. Photos / AP
In the midst of exhausting crises seemingly with no end, the world is losing a political leader long considered a rock of stability.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is stepping down soon, after a resilient 16 years and four terms in charge of one of the world's most important countries.
It'sa staggering length of time to be at the head of a federal democracy of 83 million people, and one of the drivers of the European Union.
Today's German elections will decide who succeeds the first female chancellor, although lengthy coalition talks are expected.
Merkel, 67, is bowing out on her own terms, being the first chancellor not to reapply for the job since 1949.
She has dealt with four United States presidents, five British prime ministers, four French presidents, six Australian and four New Zealand prime ministers. A YouGov survey last month showed she is currently the most popular global leader.
In the contest to replace Merkel, her CDU-CSU grouping is fronted by the governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet, 60. Olaf Scholz, 63, of the SDP, is his main rival.
Under the German election system and coalition culture, both can claim to be Merkel's heirs, despite representing centre-right and centre-left parties. Scholz is Vice-chancellor and Finance Minister. His party has been involved in three of Merkel's coalitions.
Generational change is represented by Annalena Baerbock, 40, of the Greens - a party likely to be wooed by both sides.
Climate change, investment and tax hikes for the wealthy have been key topics, with a large environmental rally held in Berlin at the weekend. Will major shifts be in the offing?
Top candidates for chancellor, from left, are the Greens Annalena Baerbock, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, and Christian Democrat Armin Laschet.
Rather like Jacinda Ardern's time as Prime Minister so far, Merkel's rule has been dominated by crisis management.
Several of these - major financial woes, the tide of refugees, and sanctions for Russia over the Ukraine conflict - had widespread impact.
Merkel's response to the 2008 financial meltdown, in starting financial support for companies to keep staff, became a feature of pandemic responses last year. She also pushed controversial austerity measures as part of debt bailouts in Europe that ultimately kept the euro and eurozone afloat.
Merkel may be remembered most for how she allowed in - and essentially saved - 1.2 million desperate migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. There was resistance in Germany and other European countries, but it was a historically significant decision.
However, some refugees were left to languish in camps both in and outside the EU, and there was a rise in far-right parties.
Troublesome anti-democratic governments in Hungary and Poland became established. Brexit also happened under Merkel's watch. But she also held the line for a multilateral approach to politics during the truculent Trump era.
Merkel helped Germany cope better during the pandemic than some other countries in Europe. Hospitalisations and deaths from Covid-19 in Germany are low now compared to last year.
Merkel's steady, cool-headed, and incremental approach has had plenty of critics. But to many people the stability she provided was needed in generally unstable times.
Ralph Bollmann, a Merkel biographer, told CNN: "She is seen as a guarantor of stability. In future times many people will look back at this time as a time - perhaps the last time - of stability."
Merkel has blazed a trail, one steady step at a time. The world will be wondering how well Germany can fill those shoes.
