… 2018 and wouldn’t seek reelection as chancellor in 2021. The 2018 setbacks were preceded by significant losses … percent, compared with 4.1 percent in 2013. Speaking the day after the vote in Hesse, Merkel said “the results are a … losses to the AfD. In Brandenburg, the CDU vote fell from 23 percent in 2014 to 15.6 percent, while the vote for the …