Nationalist Post

The National Post

Reading: Germany election: Merz wins narrow victory as far-right AfD doubles support
Share
Font ResizerAa

Nationalist Post

The National Post

Font ResizerAa
Search
© 2024 NM Media. All Rights Reserved.
World

Germany election: Merz wins narrow victory as far-right AfD doubles support

Admin
Last updated: February 24, 2025 6:27 am
Admin 5 months ago
Share
Germany election: Merz wins narrow victory as far-right AfD doubles support
SHARE

Berlin: Germany’s conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz won a lackluster victory in a national election Sunday, while Alternative for Germany doubled its support in the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II, projections showed.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat for his centre-left Social Democrats after what he called “a bitter election result”. Projections for ARD and ZDF public television showed his party finishing in third place with its worst postwar result in a national parliamentary election.

Merz said he hopes to put a coalition government together by Easter. But that’s likely to be challenging.

Also Read

Swami Bhadreshdasji honoured in Nepal; Akshar Purushottam Darshan formally recognized

PM Narendra Modi receives warm welcome in Namibia, tries hand at playing drums

Elon Musk launches ‘American Party’ amid feud with US President Trump

The election took place seven months earlier than originally planned after Scholz’s unpopular coalition collapsed in November, three years into a term that was increasingly marred by infighting. There was widespread discontent and not much enthusiasm for any of the candidates.

The campaign was dominated by worries about the years-long stagnation of Europe’s biggest economy and pressure to curb migration — something that caused friction after Merz pushed hard in recent weeks for a tougher approach. It took place against a background of growing uncertainty over the future of Ukraine and Europe’s alliance with the United States.

Germany is the most populous country in the 27-nation European Union and a leading member of NATO. It has been Ukraine’s second-biggest weapons supplier, after the US. It will be central to shaping the continent’s response to the challenges of the coming years, including the Trump administration’s confrontational foreign and trade policy.

The projections, based on exit polls and partial counting, put support for Merz’s Union bloc around 28.5 per cent and the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany, or AfD, about 20.5 per cent — roughly double its result from 2021.

They put support for Scholz’s Social Democrats at just over 16 per cent, far lower than in the last election and below their previous post-war low of 20.5 per cent from 2017. The environmentalist Greens, their remaining partners in the outgoing government, were on about 12 per cent.

Out of three smaller parties, one — the hard-left Left Party — strengthened its position, winning up to 9 per cent of the vote after a remarkable comeback. The pro-business Free Democrats, who were the third party in the collapsed government, looked likely to lose their seats in parliament with about 4.5 per cent. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, was hovering around the 5 per cent threshold needed to win seats.

Whether Merz will have a majority to form a coalition with Scholz’s Social Democrats or need a second partner too, which would realistically have to be the Greens, will depend on whether the BSW gets into parliament. The conservative leader said that “the most important thing is to re-establish a viable government in Germany as quickly as possible”.

“I am aware of the responsibility,” Merz said. “I am also aware of the scale of the task that now lies ahead of us. I approach it with the utmost respect, and I know that it will not be easy.” “The world out there isn’t waiting for us, and it isn’t waiting for long-drawn-out coalition talks and negotiations,” he told cheering supporters.

The Greens’ candidate for chancellor, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, said that Merz would do well to moderate his tone after a hard-fought campaign.

“We have seen the centre is weakened overall, and everyone should look at themselves and ask whether they didn’t contribute to that,” said Habeck. “Now he must see that he acts like a chancellor.” The Greens were the party that suffered least from participating in Scholz’s unpopular government. The Social Democrats’ general secretary, Matthias Miersch, suggested that their defeat was no surprise — “this election wasn’t lost in the last eight weeks”.

AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla told cheering supporters that “we have achieved something historic today”.

“We are now the political centre and we have left the fringes behind us,” he said. The party’s strongest previous showing was 12.6% in 2017, when it first entered the national parliament.

The party’s candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, said it is “open for coalition negotiations” with Merz’s party, and that “otherwise, no change of policy is possible in Germany”. Merz has repeatedly ruled out working with AfD, as have other mainstream parties — and did so again in a televised post-election exchange with Weidel and other leaders.

Weidel suggested AfD wouldn’t have to make many concessions to secure a theoretical coalition, arguing that the Union largely copied its programme and deriding its “Pyrrhic victory”.

“It won’t be able to implement it with left-wing parties,” she said. If Merz ends up forming an alliance with the Social Democrats and Greens, “it will be an unstable government that doesn’t last four years, there will be an interim Chancellor Friedrich Merz and in the coming years we will overtake the Union”.

Merz dismissed the idea that voters wanted a coalition with AfD. “We have fundamentally different views, for example on foreign policy, on security policy, in many other areas, regarding Europe, the euro, NATO,” he said.

“You want the opposite of what we want, so there will be no cooperation,” Merz added.

Scholz decried AfD’s success. He said that “that must never be something that we will accept. I will not accept it and never will”.

More than 59 million people in the nation of 84 million were eligible to elect the 630 members of the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, who will take their seats under the glass dome of Berlin’s landmark Reichstag building.

You Might Also Like

PM Modi receives musical welcome in Brazil after productive Argentina visit
PM Modi receives musical welcome in Brazil after productive Argentina visit
At least 13 dead in Texas floods, more than 20 children missing from girls summer camp
At least 13 dead in Texas floods, more than 20 children missing from girls summer camp
Earthquake of magnitude 6.2 in Sea of Marmara shakes Istanbul, no immediate reports of damage
Residents in Pakistan’s Karachi remain anxious following frequent quakes in June
TAGGED:german elecction mertz victorygerman elections mertzgerman elections newsgermany elections newsmertz german election winner
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print

You Also Like

PM Modi’s visit a matter of honour for us: Trinidad and Tobago PM Kamala Persad Bissessar

PM Modi’s visit a matter of honour for us: Trinidad and Tobago PM Kamala Persad Bissessar

By Admin 1 week ago
Iran-Israel war: Why is Russia not helping Tehran directly? Here is what Vladimir Putin has to say

‘Could get offended’: Vladimir Putin rushes out of interview to take Donald Trump’s call

By Admin 1 week ago
Indian community’s journey in Trinidad and Tobago one of courage: PM Modi

Indian community’s journey in Trinidad and Tobago one of courage: PM Modi

By Admin 1 week ago
© 2024 NM Media. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?