unkonstruktives misstrauensvotum

Following disappointing election returns in Bavaria and Hessen, Angela Merkel announced her intent not to seek to keep her position as chairwoman of her Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) party, a post she has held for eighteen years.
A change in party leadership does not, however, translate to an automatic departure from the chancellorship, the incumbent since 2005—soliciting both relief and consternation. The ballot outcomes were still good enough to keep her party in first place but the rather precipitous loss of a tenth of voters plus the eroding, splintered confidence in their centre-left coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD—die Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands)—came as a humbling shock.