Call Me Stormy

Germany Shifts To The Right

The two conservative parties in Germany came in No. 1 and No. 2 in the federal election over the weekend, pretty much signaling a shift to the right will take place. But we still don’t know particulars like who will be Germany’s next chancellor. Those won’t be known until the parties negotiate with each other, forming alliances for the next seating of the German parliament — the Bundestag.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), along with its partner, the Christian Social Union (CSU), finished first with 28.6 percent of the vote, while the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged into second with 20.8 percent. The more middle-of-the-road Social Democratic Party (SPD) came in third with just 16.4 percent, a nearly 10-point drop from their first-place finish in 2021. Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz acknowledged a “bitter” defeat, saying “the election result is poor and I bear responsibility”.

Germany’s Greens and the far-left Die Linke, or The Left, party exceeded the 5 percent threshold to secure seats in parliament, with 11.6 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively. The CDU/CSU is projected to secure 208 seats in the Bundestag, the AfD 152, the SPD 120, the Greens 85 and The Left 64. Now, we’ll have to see which parties will join together to form a ruling coalition and who will be their designated chancellor. Odds favor Friederich Merz, a lawyer and the chairman of the CDU alliance.

For more details on the volatile election, here’s a recap from Feli from Germany, an expatriate who lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. She notes even Elon Musk got involved this go-around.