Merkel re-elected party head by a landslide

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been re-elected as her party's leader with a landslide majority of 98 percent of the vote.

The backing by the delegates of her conservative Christian Democratic Union on Tuesday gives Merkel a strong mandate to pursue her policies in fighting off Europe's debt crisis and contesting the national elections due next year.

"I'm flabbergasted and moved," Merkel told a cheering audience at her party's annual convention in Hannover.

Merkel has led the party since 2000 and has governed Europe's biggest economy as the country's first female chancellor since 2005.