The Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) bloc, whose candidate for chancellor is Friedrich Merz, won the early Bundestag elections on Sunday with around 29% of the votes.
This is according to the exit poll data published after the polling stations closed, commissioned by the ARD television channel.
The "Alternative for Germany" party takes second place for the first time in its history (AfD), which almost doubled its share of the vote compared to the 2021 elections and received 19.5%. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD) is only in third place. It was supported by about 16% of voters. The Greens and the Left Party are next. They received about 13.5% and 8.5% of voters, respectively.
The “Sarah Wagenknecht Union for Reason and Justice“ (BSW) and the Free Democratic Party of former Finance Minister Christian Lindner are teetering on the brink of entering the Bundestag. They received about 4.7% and 4.9% of the vote, respectively.