Merkel to win party support for new term as chancellor

Essen, Germany (dpa) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s Christian Democrats (CDU) are set to back her for a fourth term in office at their annual conference on Tuesday, where the party is also expected to toughen its stance on refugees.The CDU party conference is also expected to return Merkel for the ninth time as CDU chief.She secured 96.7 per cent of the vote when the ballot for party leader was last held two years ago.A poll published last month by public broadcaster ZDF showed 64 per cent of those surveyed supported the chancellor making a bid for another term as head of Europe‘s biggest economy in the September election next year.But the size of Tuesday‘s vote for Merkel will underscore the degree to which her political standing has suffered as a result of the refugee crisis, which has triggered deep divisions in her party‘s ranks.The chancellor signalled on Monday that the CDU plans to toughen its stance on refugees, including measures to step up deportations of failed asylum seekers.The party‘s moves to set a more hardline approach to refugees at its conference comes in the wake of a string of state election successes by the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD).In particular, the AfD has siphoned votes from the CDU after capitalizing on anger in parts of the German electorate over Merkel‘s liberal refugee policy.