Change of power in Germany: The conservative bloc CDU/CSU with its candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz became the first force in the early elections for the Bundestag in Germany, which were held on February 23. However, the conservatives expected a better result. According to the preliminary results, the CDU/CSU received 28.52% of the votes - this is less than the 30 percent they had set as their goal. This result is the second worst for the conservatives in the Bundestag elections.
The second force and the big winner on election night is "Alternative for Germany" with 20.8%. Thus, the far-right party doubled its result compared to the 2021 elections, when it had just over 10%. In the eastern federal states, the AfD is even the first force in some places.
Social Democrats in third place for the first time
The German Social Democratic Party of the former Chancellor Olaf Scholz suffered a historic defeat. The SPD received only 16.41% of the vote, which is their worst result in the history of the Federal Republic. The Social Democrats are for the first time and only the third political force.
The Greens, who are also part of the previous coalition government, are also losing support. They received 11.61%. The Free Democrats suffered a defeat and will not enter the new Bundestag - they received only 4.33%. Last night, their leader Christian Lindner announced that he was retiring from politics. And the "Sarah Wagenknecht Union" will not get seats in parliament, as it almost missed the 5% barrier - it did not reach 14,000 votes. The CCW received 4.97%. However, the Left Party achieved success - the party, which weeks before the elections was not sure whether it would enter the Bundestag, surprisingly received 8.77%.
Who will Friedrich Merz form a coalition with?
The likely future Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, will need a coalition partner.
A coalition with the Social Democrats or the Greens would be possible. And the Greens' candidate for chancellor does not rule out the so-called. "Kenya coalition", formed by the CDU/CSU, the SPD and the Greens.
Alice Weidel would like the AfD to be a coalition partner of the CDU/CSU, but even before the elections, Friedrich Merz categorically rejected a coalition with the far right. Parts of the AfD are categorized by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as right-wing extremist.
The evening after the elections, Merz promised to quickly form a government. "I know it won't be easy", he said, adding that the country could not afford to form a long-term cabinet. "The world will not wait for us." Merz announced that he hoped to have a government ready by Easter.
Record voter turnout - almost 84%
Around 59.2 million people were called to vote in the Bundestag elections. For the first time, the elections were held under the new electoral law, in which the seats in parliament were reduced by about 100. There will be a total of 630 deputies in the new parliament.
The voter turnout was record - 83.5% of those eligible to vote went to vote.
This is the highest turnout since German reunification, i.e. since 1990. In the previous Bundestag elections, which were held in 2021, 76.4% of those called to vote exercised their right to vote.