German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she will run for a fourth term in office, members of her conservative party have said.
Angela Merkel has led the country since 2005. Photo: AFP
Mrs Merkel, 62, is expected to formally announce her intention later on Sunday at the headquarters of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin.
General elections are expected in Germany in autumn next year.
Mrs Merkel's poll ratings have slipped since the height of her popularity but she retains wide support.
She suffered an embarrassing regional election defeat earlier this year and is being challenged by the populist right-wing AfD party.
Mrs Merkel said after the polls that she accepted responsibility for defeats in several states,
She also conceded that her open-door policy towards migrants - embodied in her phrase "wir schaffen das" (we can manage it) - was a factor in several state elections.
Germany expected up to 300,000 migrants to arrive in the country this year, the head of the country's federal office for migration and refugees said earlier this year.
In 2015, Germany received more than a million applications for asylum.
A pastor's daughter who grew up in communist East Germany, Mrs Merkel has run the united country since 2005.
If she wins next year's elections, she would equal the post-war record set by Helmut Kohl, who was chancellor from 1982 to 1998.
Germany - Europe's economic powerhouse - does not have term limits on the country's top job.
- BBC
