Politics Merz wins election in Germany - Scholz admits defeat
The Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) led by opposition leader Friedrich Merz have won the Bundestag elections in Germany according to initial projections by TV stations. However, they fell short of their expectations.
23.02.2025, 19:10
23.02.2025, 19:11
SDA
The Social Democrats (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz fell back to their worst result of all federal elections. The right-wing populist AfD became the second strongest party.
According to projections, opposition leader Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU received between 28.7% and 28.9% of the vote (2021: 24.2%). Despite a significant improvement on 2021, this is their second-worst result in the history of the Federal Republic.
The right-wing populist AfD follows in second place with 19.6% to 19.8% (2021: 10.4%). The SPD plummeted to 16.1 to 16.4 percent (2021: 25.7), its worst result in a federal election to date. Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck's Greens deteriorated slightly to between 12 and 13.3% (2021: 14.7).
The FDP, which had co-governed in Scholz's "traffic light" coalition until November, has to tremble for re-entry into the Bundestag with 4.9 to 5.0 percent (2021: 11.4). The Left Party gained 8.6 to 8.9 percent (2021: 4.9) and would therefore be represented in the Bundestag again with the strength of a parliamentary group. The newly founded Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), a split-off from the Left Party, could also fail to reach the five percent threshold to enter parliament with 4.7 to 5.0 percent.
Difficult to form a government
According to ARD and ZDF, voter turnout was between 83 and 84 percent, the highest since German reunification in 1990.
According to initial calculations by ARD, the CDU/CSU won 211 seats, the AfD 142, the SPD 116, the Greens 98, the Left 62 and the Party of the Danish Minority (SSW) one MP. The blocking clause does not apply to the latter.
"We, the CDU and CSU, the Union, have won the 2025 Bundestag election," said Merz. The top candidate also called for a swift formation of a government in view of the global situation. "The world is not waiting for us. We must now quickly regain our ability to act," said Merz.
Scholz conceded defeat. "This is a bitter election result for the Social Democratic Party," he said. He himself was responsible for this result. "Congratulations on the election result," said the Chancellor to his challenger.
The election, originally planned for September, had been brought forward after the "traffic light" coalition collapsed in November due to a dispute over the budget. Since then, Scholz has led a minority government consisting of the SPD and the Greens.
However, the formation of a new German government could prove difficult. A black-red coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD would have a slight majority, but the programmatic differences between the two forces are considerable. Should the FDP or BSW ultimately make it into parliament, the balance of power would shift again. The AfD, which is classified in some quarters as right-wing extremist, would be ruled out as a coalition partner for all other parties.
Smaller parliament
The new Bundestag must convene no later than 30 days after the election - i.e. by March 25. However, the decision on the future government will probably not be made until weeks or even months later. Until then, the current government will remain in office on a caretaker basis. The new Bundestag will be significantly slimmer due to a reform of electoral law. The number of MPs has been limited to 630 - a good 100 fewer than at present.
Election campaign revolved around migration and economic weakness
The short winter election campaign was recently dominated by the debate on limiting migration. The attacks in Magdeburg, Aschaffenburg and Munich, in which several people were killed and many injured, were the concrete trigger for the resurgence of this ongoing issue.
The second main topic was the weakening economy. Merz announced tax cuts and radical changes to the citizen's allowance - state aid for the long-term unemployed - while the SPD wants to facilitate state investment by reforming the debt brake.
