DHAKA: Germany’s centre-right Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that she will run for a fourth term in office.

Speaking at a meeting of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin, she said she expected her toughest campaign to date, and vowed to “fight for our values and our way of life”.

General elections are expected in Germany next year.

Merkel’s poll ratings have slipped since the height of her popularity but she retains wide support, reports the BBC.

The chancellor, who has been in office since 2005, is being challenged by the populist right-wing AFD party.

She announced she would stand again after meeting party leaders at CDU headquarters.

She told reporters that the decision to run for a fourth term had been “anything but trivial after 11 years in office”.

She added that she expected challenges from both the right and the left of the political spectrum.

In September, Merkel accepted responsibility for election defeats for the CDU in several states and conceded that her open-door policy towards migrants was a factor.

Germany expected up to 300,000 migrants to arrive in the country this year, the head of the country's federal office for migration and refugees said earlier this year.

In 2015, Germany received more than a million applications for asylum.

BDST: 1101 HRS, NOV 21, 2016
AP/NJ/SMS