Merkel signals ambitions to run for third term in 2013

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/07/10/uk-germany-merkel-idUKTRE7691LL20110710

(Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel signalled for the first time her intention to seek a third term in 2013, although a poll on Sunday showed Peer Steinbrueck of the main opposition party gaining more support from voters.

Merkel made the announcement indirectly in an interview with Sat-1 TV. Although her intention to lead her conservative Christian Democrats into the campaign for a third term was no surprise, the timing just before the summer break was unusual.

"Well, I do hope that the SPD come up with an opposing candidate for the next parliamentary elections," Merkel told Sat-1, Germany's fifth-most watched network, in an interview that aired on Friday and initially attracted little public notice.

Even though Steinbrueck, a conservative voice in the centre-left Social Democrats, or SPD, is popular among voters on the right, Merkel said she had no worries about him or other SPD leaders who might carry their banner in the vote due in 2013.