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Election posters hang on a lamp post in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, February 23, 2025, during the German national election
GERMANY went to the polls today in an election dominated by worries about the lengthy stagnation of Europe’s biggest economy, anti-immigrant rhetoric and growing uncertainty over the future of Ukraine and Europe’s alliance with the United States.
The right-wing opposition, under Friedrich Merz, is favoured to win. Exit polls put it at 29 per cent of the vote, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) second on 19.5 per cent. Stand Up to Racism called an emergency protest at the German embassy for 6pm tomorrow in response to the AfD’s strong showing.
Germany has been Ukraine’s second-largest weapons supplier after the US, and will be central to the European response to the US government’s U-turn on the war and other divisions with Washington, such as over tariffs. Incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz has opposed British and French proposals to send troops to Ukraine as post-truce peacekeepers.
More than 59 million people in the nation of 84 million are eligible to elect the 630 members of the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag.
No party looks within reach of a majority. It is expected that two or more parties will form a coalition, following potentially difficult negotiations that could take weeks or even months before the Bundestag elects the next chancellor.
This election is taking place seven months before it was originally planned after Mr Scholz’s coalition collapsed in November, three years into its term.
The AfD fielded Alice Weidel as its first candidate for chancellor. But all other parties say they won’t work with the AfD.
The exit poll put Die Linke on 8.5 per cent, a big advance on recent polling possibly due to its key role in organising anti-fascist protests. By contrast the anti-war BSW was on 4.7 per cent – if borne out by official results tomorrow, failing to clear the 5 per cent hurdle to enter the Bundestag.
Migration has been central to the election campaign with Mr Merz vowing to bar people from entering the country without proper papers and to step up deportations if he is elected chancellor.
