In Germany, the federal elections held on the 23rd (local time) showed that the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) coalition won with 28.52% of the votes. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ranked second with 20.8%, marking the highest vote percentage for a far-right party since World War II and roughly doubling compared to 2021. On the other hand, the current ruling party, the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Olaf Scholz, finished third with 16.41%, recording its lowest performance since 1887. The SPD's partner, the Green Party, received 11.61%, finishing fourth.
According to major foreign media outlets such as the Associated Press and Financial Times, Friedrich Merz (70), the CDU leader, declared, "Let's start the party," announcing the electoral victory. In contrast, Chancellor Scholz acknowledged the defeat, calling it "a bitter election result."
The main issues in this German election were immigration and economic recession. A series of incidents related to immigrants has led to strengthened anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany, and the far-right party advocating against the influx of large numbers of immigrants and their deportation has transformed German politics to be more conservative, achieving the second-highest vote share. Tino Chrupalla, AfD co-leader, said to supporters, "Today we have achieved a historical advance."
However, Merz dismissed the possibility of a coalition government with the far-right AfD, which finished second. He stated, "We have fundamentally different views on many areas related to foreign policy, security policy, Europe, the Euro, and NATO," adding, "There will be no cooperation because you want something opposite to what we want." Chancellor Scholz also criticized AfD for its high support rate, stating, "That (the rise of far-right parties) is something we should never accept." The New York Times analyzed, "So far, Germany has been the most successful among major European powers in preventing the rise of far-right parties to power," noting that Germany has created a 'firewall' at the national level to suppress extremist parties and voices since World War II.
Although the CDU topped the votes, it did not attain a parliamentary majority. Thus, to form a majority party, a coalition government must be established. Merz expressed hope to assemble a coalition government by Easter. However, the Associated Press assessed that "it is likely to be difficult." Above all, the CDU needs the support of the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), the traditional partner of the SPD, but the FDP only secured 4.33% of the votes, falling short of the minimum support rate (5%) required to secure seats in the federal parliament.
The Financial Times also noted, "To secure a parliamentary majority, a coalition government must be formed with other parties. For this, Merz has no choice but to create a coalition with SPD and the Green Party," while adding, "It is uncertain whether Merz can form a majority party since he is expected to pursue fundamental reforms, including revising the constitutional limit on public borrowing." Reflecting this, Merz remarked, "We competed during the election campaign, but now we will talk to each other," predicting that forming a coalition will be more challenging than the election campaign.
Meanwhile, exit polls indicate that the voter turnout for the German federal elections reached 84%, the highest since Germany's reunification in 1990.