Angela Merkel speaks, December 2017 | Sean Gallup/Getty Images Angela Merkel makes her pitch, calls for burqa ban Chancellor tells party convention that Germany needs the steady hand of the CDU.

ESSEN, Germany — Angela Merkel was reelected leader of Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU) Tuesday with a solid, if unspectular result that reflected her strong standing in the party as well as the frustration among some conservatives with her stewardship.

Delegates to the CDU convention elected Merkel to another two-year term with 89.5 percent of the roughly 950 votes cast, her second-worst showing since taking over the party in 2000. Though well below the 96.7 percent she received two years ago, the outcome was respectable considering the backlash her refugee policies triggered in the party, suggesting her efforts to shore up her base have largely succeeded.

A confident Merkel presented a sweeping, if cautious agenda for Germany in the coming years as her party faithful prepared to nominate her to run for a fourth term as chancellor.

"We want to serve Germany. I want to serve Germany," Merkel told the party convention in this industrial west German city, echoing a mantra she used in her first run for chancellor in 2005.

But it was her call for full body coverings, an apparent reference to the Muslim burqa, to be banned "wherever possible" that drew some of the strongest applause.

During the more than hour-long address, Merkel, dressed in a bright red jacket, touched on everything from big data to migration, pledging to stay the course that she says has ensured German prosperity in recent years. Delegates responded with enthusiasm to the speech, standing and applauding for more than 10 minutes after she finished.

"Eleven years ago we were the sick man of Europe. Today, I think it can be said, an anchor of stability," Merkel said, underlining Germany's economic and political stability during her three terms as chancellor.

She stressed it was essential for the CDU to remain Germany's "party of the middle," arguing that in an increasingly unstable world, Germany can't do without the steady hand of the Christian Democrats.

"In times like these, it is up to us, more than ever," she said.

On controversial issues, in particular refugees, she signaled little willingness to change course beyond strengthening the deportation rules to allow for speedier repatriation of asylum seekers whose petitions are rejected.

With red-meat rhetoric such as her comments on burqas, Merkel was trying to shore up her support among conservatives in her party who were frustrated by her open-door policy on refugees.

She highlighted the progress she made on the refugee front, citing in particular Europe's deal wth Turkey. But she also made it clear she was only willing to compromise with her critics up to a point, repeating a warning she said she first made in 2000, when she was first elected CDU leader in the very same hall where this year's convention is taking place.

"I can't promise that unreasonable demands from my side will be any fewer in the future," she said.