BERLIN, (Reuters) – Angela Merkel told top members of her party on Sunday that she wants to run for a fourth term as German chancellor in next year’s election, after months of speculation about one of the world’s most powerful women. Despite a voter backlash over her open-door migrant policy, the conservative is seen as a stabilising force in Europe amid uncertainty caused by Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and the election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president. Merkel told leading figures in her Christian Democrats (CDU) party in Berlin on Sunday about her intentions, several participants said. The meeting is to prepare for a party conference in December, the last before the election. She is due to hold a news conference at 1800 GMT. Some 55 percent of Germans want Merkel to serve a fourth term, with 39 percent against, an Emnid poll published in the Bild am Sonntag newspaper showed on Sunday. Merkel, 62, has steered Europe’s biggest economy through the financial crisis and the euro zone debt crisis and has won respect internationally – U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday described her as an “outstanding” ally. With Trump’s victory in the United States