Merkel to chart 2017 election battle at party congress

[caption id="attachment_330487" align="alignnone" width="3500"] German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a session of the Bundestag (German lower house of parliament) in Berlin January 29, 2015. AFP PHOTO / TOBIAS SCHWARZ[/caption]

BERLIN: After Donald Trump's shock victory, Francois Hollande's decision not to seek re-election and populism on the rise, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is next up on the campaign podium to set out her strategy for winning in 2017 polls.

When her centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) holds its annual two-day congress from Tuesday, she will seek to rally members behind her bid for a fourth term as Germany's leader.

Merkel has admitted that the general election, likely to be held in September, will be "more difficult than any before it".

Her opponents will seek to capitalise on resentment over her liberal refugee policy that brought one million asylum seekers to Europe's biggest economy over the past two years.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2016