Germany Friedrich Merz, conservative opposition chief, won a dull victory in a national election Sunday, while Alternative for Germany The projections have almost doubled its support, the strongest projection for a far -right party since the Second World War, showed projections.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded the defeat for his Center Democrats after what he called “a bitter electoral result”. The projections of public television Ard and the ZDF showed that his party ended in third place with its worst post-war result in a national parliamentary election.
Merz promised to move quickly to assemble a coalition government. But this is probably a complicated task.
The election took place seven months earlier than originally after the unpopular coalition of Scholz collapsed in November, three years after a mandate which was increasingly spoiled by the intestine struggles. There was generalized dissatisfaction and not much enthusiasm for any of the candidates.
The campaign has been dominated by concerns about the stagnation of the years of the greatest economy and the pressure of Europe to limit migration – something that caused friction after Merz has pushed hard in recent weeks for A more difficult approach. It took place in a context of growing uncertainty over the future of Ukraine and the European Alliance with the United States.
Germany is the most populous country in the European Union of 27 countries and a member of NATO. It is the second largest supplier of weapons in Ukraine, after the United States, it will be at the heart to shape the continent’s response to the challenges of years to come, including the policy of confrontation and trade in Confrontation of the Trump administration.
The projections, based on output surveys and partial count, supported the Merz union block around 28.5% and the anti -immigration alternative for Germany, or AFD, around 20.5% – doubly doubly of Its 2021 result.
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They supported Scholz’s social democrats at just over 16%, much lower than that of the last elections and below their smallest hollow of 20.5% compared to 2017. The Greens Ecologists, their partners remaining in the outgoing government, were over just over 12%.
Out of three small parties, one – the late left -left party – has reinforced its position, winning up to 9% of the votes after a remarkable return. Two other parties, the Pro -enterprises free democrats – which were a third of the collapsed government – and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, hovered around the threshold of support of 5% necessary to gain seats.
A difficult task for the winner
Whether Merz has a majority to form a coalition with Scholz Social Democrats or you will also need a second partner will depend on the number of parties in Parliament. The conservative chief said that “the most important thing is to restore a viable government in Germany as quickly as possible”.
“I am aware of responsibility,” said Merz. “I am also aware of the magnitude of the task that awaits us now. I approach it with the greatest respect, and I know that it will not be easy. »»
“The world there does not expect us, and it does not expect long-term discussion and coalition negotiations,” he told supporters.
The candidate of the Greens for the Chancellor, the vice-chancellor Robert Habeck, said that Merz would do well to moderate his tone after a harsh campaign.
“We have seen that the center weakens overall, and everyone should look at and wonder if they haven’t contributed,” said Habeck. “Now he must see that he acts as a chancellor.”
The Greens were the party who suffered the least from the participation in the unpopular government of Scholz. The secretary general of the social democrats, Matthias Mirsch, suggested that their defeat was not a surprise – “this election has not been lost in the past eight weeks.”
A delighted far right party has no partner
AFD co-leader Tino Chrupalla told Applaudi supporters that “we have achieved something historic today”.
“We are now the political center and we have left the margins behind us,” he said. The strongest performance in the party was 12.6% in 2017, when it entered the national parliament.
The candidate of the Chancellor Party, Alice Weidel, said that he was “open to coalition negotiations” with the Merz party, and that “if not, no change in politics is possible in Germany.” Merz has excluded several times to work with AFD, just like other traditional parties – and have done so in a post -electoral television exchange with Weidel and other leaders.
Weidel suggested that AFD would not have to make many concessions to guarantee a theoretical coalition, arguing that the union has largely copied its program and mocking its “Pyrrhic victory”.
“He will not be able to implement it with left parts,” she said. If Merz ends up forming an alliance with the Social Democrats and the Greens, “it will be an unstable government that does not last four years, there will be an interim chancellor Friedrich Merz and in the years to come, we will exceed the union.”
Merz rejected the idea that voters wanted a coalition with AFD. “We have fundamentally different points of view, for example on foreign policy, on security policy, in many other fields, concerning Europe, Euro, NATO,” he said.
“You want the opposite of what we want, so there will be no cooperation,” added Merz.
Scholz has criticized AFD’s success. He said that “it should never be something that we will accept. I will not accept it and I will never do it.
More than 59 million people in the country of 84 million people were eligible to elect the 630 members of the lower room of the Parliament, the Bundestag, which will take place under the glass dome of the historic Berlin Reichstag building.
The journalists of the Associated Press Kirsten Grieshaber, Vanessa Gera and Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed.
& Copy 2025 The Associated Press