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.