The Social Democratic Party won the federal elections in Germany

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) won the federal elections in Germany held on Sunday with 25.7% support, slightly ahead of the 24.1% reached by the coalition of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), which fell to historic lows.

The dual system of German voting by candidate and by list would thus confirm the SPD as the main formation in the Bundestag or lower house of the German Parliament with 205 of the 730 seats, while the CDU / CSU would have 194.

The SPD and CDU / CSU have expressed their intention to lead a coalition government after the tight results.

Thus, the head of the SPD, Olaf Scholz, underlined the “great success” obtained by his party in the federal elections on Sunday and opted to “form a government”. “Of course, I am happy with the election results. Many voters have made it clear that they want a change of government and that the next chancellor must be Olaf Scholz, ”he added.

Meanwhile, the CDU candidate, Armin Laschet called on the other parties to form a coalition “against a leftist government”. Laschet bet on a government “led by the coalition” between the CDU and its sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union (CSU).

“A vote for the Union is a vote against a left-wing federal government. That is why we are going to do everything in our power to form a federal government led by the Union ”, said. The conservative candidate even mentioned the name of the alliance, which would be called the “future coalition” and which would include the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP) and Los Verdes.

In this direction, Scholz assured that talks to form a new government, which could in principle begin on October 26, should end before Christmas, with the idea that the outgoing Minister of Foreign Affairs will not have to deliver another speech to the nation on these dates.

“It would be absurd to give a precise date, but we must do everything to be sure to be ready before Christmas, even if a little earlier would be as well”, said Scholz, who encouraged the rest of the formations to “talk to each other in a constructive way”, reports the agency DPA.

In the same vein, Laschet also called for the new German government to be formed “definitively” before the end of the year.

For his part, the leader of the CSU, Markus Soeder, Laschet’s rival for the Chancellery bid, also argued that the results are a setback for Scholz as he, according to Soeder, preferred a coalition with environmentalists and the left.

For the moment, neither of the two major parties has at least publicly considered re-issuing the grand coalition between the SPD and the CDU / CSU that has dominated the country’s political scene in recent legislatures.

POSSIBLE GOVERNMENT PARTNERS

Behind the two big parties are Los Verdes (14.8% and 116 seats), which obtained the best result in their history; the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP, 11.5% and 91 seats); the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) fell to fifth place (10.5% and 84 deputies) and La Gauche did not reach 5% but obtained three direct mandates, according to television German public ARD.

The leader of Los Verdes and candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock, claimed that her training was defeated and admitted “her own mistakes” in the campaign. “We wanted more. We did not succeed because of our own mistakes at the start of the campaign, my own mistakes. This time it was not enough, but the party has a duty for the future “Baerbock said.

AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla admitted that “the losses hurt”, but instead stressed that they had “a solid electoral base”. Moreover, given the declared refusal of the other parties to come to an agreement with the AfD, Chrupalla stressed that they will be in opposition.

Meanwhile, La Izquierda, who had admitted to having suffered a setback if they did not reach the five percent they were granted by exit polls, managed to save their representation with the direct election of their representatives. .

CHANGES COMPARED TO 2017

These figures represent a significant improvement for the SPD and its candidate, Olaf Scholz, compared to 2017, where he obtained 20.5% of support, although it is far from the clear victory they hoped to form. comfortably a government.

On the contrary, the CDU / CSU alliance is far from the 32.9% support of 2017 in the first elections without Angela Merkel as a candidate for 16 years. It is also the worst historical result of the training.

The Greens, for their part, started the year with the intention of leading a coalition government, so this data would be a failure, even if compared to 2017 (8.9%) they would have significant advances. The left is suffering a serious setback compared to 9.2% in 2017.

As for the two other elections this Sunday, the SPD would be the most voted force in the elections to the Berlin Chamber of Deputies (22.8%, +6.6 points compared to 2016), followed by Los Verdes (21, 8%, -1.3) and the CDU (16.7%, -0.9%), according to projections on the actual number of votes counted.

The left is the fourth force (14.1%, -1.4), the AfD would reach 6.6% (-7.2) and the FDP would remain at 7.9% (+1.2).

In the elections to the regional parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the most voted force was again the SPD (38.2%, +8.2 compared to 2016), followed by the AfD (17.8% -3 ), the CDU (14.2%, -4.8), La Izquierda (9.9%, -3.3), Los Verdes (5.9%, +1.1) and the FDP, which would amount to the Chamber with 6% (+3).

(With information from Europa Press)

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