The federal election which took place on 23 February saw a record voter turnout. 82.5% of the 59.2 million eligible voters participated to elect the 630 members of the Bundestag (federal parliament). This represented the highest turnout since 1987 (i.e. prior to reunification in 1990) and a significant increase on the previous election (76.6% in 2021).
The election resulted in a significant shift in the political landscape compared to 2021. The composition of the next federal parliament will be as follows:
The proportion of votes received by each party was as follows:
- CDU/CSU: 28.6% (+4.4% compared to 2021)
- AfD: 20.8% (+10.4%)
- SPD: 16.4% (-9.3%)
- Greens: 11.6% (-3.1%)
- Left Party: 8.8% (+3.9%)
- SSW: 0.2% (no change)
- Others: 13.7%
Included in ‘Others’ were the Free Democratic Party (FDP) which received 4.3% of the vote (-7.1% compared to 2021) and the newly formed Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – Reason and Justice (BSW) which received 4.97%). As neither party managed to pass the 5% threshold, their votes do not translate into any seats.
Following the election, many world leaders congratulated the leader of the CDU, Friedrich Merz, while others focused on the significant gains made by the far-right AfD. Despite the widespread attention given to the share of the vote that the AfD received, at least one commentator highlighted the fact that despite the backing it received from various influential sources, most notably Elon Musk, almost 80% of the people who had participated in the election ultimately voted for other parties.
Friedrich Merz will now start talks with the leadership of the SPD with a view to forming a two-party coalition government. He has promised to take a much tougher stance on migration than that of the outgoing SPD-Greens-FDP government whilst also ruling out forming a coalition with the AfD. However, he was strongly criticised in January when he ignored the longstanding “firewall”, which serves to prevent political co-operation with the far-right, and relied on AfD support in an effort to pass a draft migration law.
Merz has stated that he aims for the government to be formed by 20 April.
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