Friedrich Merz, the next potential chancellor of Germany, will start the process of forming a coalition government following the victory of his conservative bloc in the national Sunday election.
According to preliminary official results, Merz is poised to take over leadership of Europe’s largest economy and most populous state after his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party secured 28.6% of the vote in the election, which saw far-right and far-left parties capitalize on disenchanted voters.
Preliminary official results indicated that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) emerged as the second-largest party, with an unprecedented 20.8% of the vote. This achievement means that the party, which was previously considered fringe due to its official suspicion of extremism, is now a significant political force. In spite of this, it is subject to exclusion from government by other parties as a result of a “firewall” arrangement.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD), led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, has seen a remarkable decline in support from its 25.7% victory in the 2021 election to its current total of 16.4% after the dissolution of its traffic light coalition government.
“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” he said later on Sunday.
With Sunday’s snap election over, Merz now has a monumental task on his hands. The economy, immigration, and Trump’s return were the three main issues.
