The Steadfast German Chancellor

As Germans head to the polls for Sunday's general election, they will also decide if incumbent Chancellor Angela Merkel will serve another four years at the helm of the country. She has been in power for 3 terms spanning 12 years now, since November 2005, as there is no limit on terms she can serve.

If she's reelected (which looks more than likely as her party union, the CDU/CSU, is the frontrunner with a comfortable margin) she will catch up with her political mentor, Helmut Kohl, who served 16 years as chancellor. He oversaw German Unification in 1990.

Only Otto von Bismarck, Germany's first chancellor, had more years in office, one day short of 19 years, from 1871 to 1890. He oversaw Germany's initial unification, turning it from a patchwork of scattered states and fiefdoms into the nation state it is today.