I never understand the coverage of that election outcome. Yeah Merkel’s party won a large plurality, but her main coalition partner was booted from government entirely. The election results suggested she stole most of her increased margin from her own coalition partner, who were unable to gain the %5 of the vote necessary to participate in government. It seemed like a big mess to me, and it’s proving to be just that.
This is one of those situations when parliamentary democracies turn into a huge mess. (We’re messed-up too, but for different reasons).