Far right comes second, getting best result in a postwar national vote in Germany, sending shock waves across Europe.
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz’s conservative alliance has won Germany’s national parliamentary election, according to exit polls,as the far-right recorded its highest-ever showing.
The conservatives, consisting of Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), are expected to finish far ahead of all other parties with 29 percent, according tothe poll.
Sunday’s vote saw the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — a party with strong anti-migration and pro-Russia stances — come second on 19.5 percent, the exit poll said. It was its best result in a national election in Europe’s most powerful country, sending shock waves through the continent.
First projections of the outcome based on early voter counts will begin filtering through shortly after the exit poll. Near-final results should be confirmed before midnight in Berlin.
The performance of smaller parties — The Left party, the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the populist-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) — will be crucial to how easy Merz can form a coalition, and how stable it will be. The parties need to surpass 5 percent to make it into the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament.
According to the exit poll, the Left party, on 8.5 percent, will definitely make it into the Bundestag. The FDP is forecast to get 4.9 percent, making it too close to call. BSW also currently falls short of the threshold on 4.7 percent, according to the exit poll, which was released by public broadcaster ARD.
If at least two of those three parties make it into parliament, Merz’s life will be complicated when he starts to negotiate a coalition because it would likely mean he needs a three-party government instead, making it far tougher to reach an agreement to force through his own policies. If two of those parties fall below the threshold, Merz may be able to form a coalition with just one other party.
Merz’s rise to power could scarcely come at a more critical time for Europe. U.S. President Donald Trump’s upending of the post-World War II order ― by often siding with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, raising questions over the U.S. commitment to defending Europe and offering support to far-right populists ― means Merz’s tenure as chancellor looks likely to be the most significant of any since the Cold War.
Merz will become Germany’s first center-right leader since Angela Merkel stepped down in 2021. Although they come from the same party, they are bitter rivals and during the election campaign she criticized Merz for his dalliance with the hardline policies of the far right and for ending the longstanding commitment not to rely on their votes in parliament
The AfD’s historic second-place finish, according to the exit poll, nearly doubles its 2021 result. The party is on course to become the biggest opposition force in parliament as all mainstream parties have ruled out entering a coalition with it.
The center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) of incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz is set to record its worst performance in a national parliamentary election since adopting its current name in 1890, finishing in third with 16 percent. The center-left Greens, which have governed in coalition with the SPD, came in fourth with 13.5 percent.
The vote took place seven months ahead of schedule, following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD-led coalition late last year. Some 630 parliamentary seats are up for grabs, to be distributed proportionally.