German elections: historic far-right score behind Conservative victory

On 23 February, the Germans voted in early federal elections to appoint new members of the Bundestag, who will in turn elect a Chancellor. The Christian Democrat CDU/CSU alliance won with 28.52% of the vote, and its leader Friedrich Merz should logically become Chancellor. The left (SPD, Greens and Die Linke) suffered an unprecedented setback. But the main shock was the success of the AfD, one of Europe’s most radical far-right parties, with a historic score of 20.8% of the vote, obtained largely in the former GDR. For the time being, Friedrich Merz does not intend to govern with the AfD, and will do his best to find a coalition majority with other parties.

There is also an urgent need to deal with the war in Ukraine and Donald Trump’s aggressive diplomacy: Friedrich Mers has denounced American interference in the elections. He wants to rebuild his country’s ‘independence’ from the United States and strengthen Europe’s autonomy, particularly in terms of defence.

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