Lessons from Angela Merkel’s victory

Angela Merkel has secured a fourth term following the general election in Germany in September, underscoring her status as the leader of Europe. However, Merkel’s Christian Democratic Alliance party plunged to a historic low of 33 per cent support, forcing her to seek a coalition with smaller parties.

More dramatic is the performance of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party at the elections. The AfD, whose leaders had pushed a xenophobic platform, denouncing immigrants, equating Islam with terrorism, blaming globalisation and “outsiders” and urging closer ties with Russia, got about 13 per cent of the vote.  This means that more than 90 members of the party, many of whom are regarded as neo-Nazis, will enter the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, making it the country’s third-largest party. The AfD had become the first overtly nationalist party to sit in the Bundestag in 60 years. Its performance marks a major shift in Germany’s post-war politics that is likely to produce a very different tone and dynamic inside the Bundestag.

The resurgence of the far right in Germany’s election has horrified many Germans and surprised many observers. It follows experience elsewhere in Europe where various right-wing populist parties received a boost with the election of Donald Trump as United States’ president in November 2016. Although these parties have increased their support over previous elections, they still fell far short of power. Even so, in a country with Germany’s modern history, it seems unavoidably fraught with danger. Germany has been snapped out of its complacency, forcing the country’s progressive forces to confront purveyors of hate and division directly. This is particularly a challenge to Merkel as the undisputed leader of Europe’s most powerful nation.

The way Merkel has set out to address the challenge posed by the resurgence of right wing neo-Nazi party is instructive to Nigerian leaders. She said her major task was to win back AfD voters to her conservative faction. She has promised to address the reasons voters have moved towards the right wing. Thus, rather than threaten to punish those who did not vote for her party, she plans to court them and address their grouses. “We have started to analyse the voters we lost, especially with regard to those who went on to vote for the AfD, we want to get them back by good politics and addressing some of the issues,” Merkel said.

A similar parallel can be drawn with the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa under Nelson Mandela. Although the ANC controlled over 80 per cent of the votes, it ran an inclusive government that bent over backwards to recognise, negotiate with and accommodate other minor parties.

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It will be recalled that after the 2015 election, President Muhammadu Buhari declared that going by the election results, constituencies that gave him 97 per cent of the vote could not be equally treated, on some issues, with constituencies that gave him five per cent. He emphasised: “Certainly, there will be justice for everybody but the people who voted, and made their votes count, they must feel the government has appreciated the effort they made in putting the government in place. I think this is really fair.” This discrimination against constituencies who did not vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the presidential election in 2015 partly accounts for the backlash against the government in certain parts of the  country. The clamour for restructuring, secession and cries of marginalisation across the country epitomise the protest against the parochialism of the current Federal Government.

We call on Nigerian politicians and public office-holders holders at various levels to take a leaf from the leadership and statesmanship demonstrated by Angela Merkel. They must recognise Nigeria’s diversity as its strength. Thus, diversity management requires a commitment to pursuing inclusiveness in its various dimensions, regardless of voting patterns. It is not only commanded by the Federal Character Principle as enshrined in the constitution, but it is also required for the realisation of the full potentials of the country. Certainly, it is the hallmark of great leadership.