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BERLIN – (AP) – Exit polls show that the center-left Social Democrats are in a very close race with outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bloc in the German parliamentary elections, which will determine who succeeds the leader of long time after 16 years in power.
An exit poll for state television ARD estimated voter support at 25% each for the Social Democrats – for whom outgoing Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz is running for chancellor – and Merkel’s center-right bloc led by the future successor Armin Laschet.
Another exit poll for public television ZDF gave the Social Democrats a 26% to 24% lead. Both put the Greens environmentalists in third place with around 15% support.
Forming the next coalition government for Europe’s largest economy could be a long and complicated process.
THIS IS A CURRENT UPDATE. AP’s previous story follows below.
BERLIN (AP) – German voters on Sunday chose a new parliament in an election that will determine who will succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel after 16 years as head of Europe’s largest economy.
Polls indicate a very close race on Sunday between Merkel’s center-right Union bloc, with state governor Armin Laschet running for chancellor, and the center-left Social Democrats, for whom the minister outgoing Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz is looking for the top post.
Recent polls show that the Social Democrats are slightly ahead. The Greens ecologists, with candidate Annalena Baerbock, make their first round in the chancellery, and the polls place them several points from third place.
The Social Democrats were boosted by the relative popularity of Scholz after a long electoral crisis and by the tough campaigns of his rivals. Baerbock suffered from early blunders and Laschet, the governor of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, struggled to motivate his party’s traditional base.
About 60.4 million people in the nation of 83 million are eligible the new Bundestag, or lower house of parliament, which will elect the next head of government.
No party should come close to an absolute majority. Polls show support for all below 30%.
Such a result could mean that many ruling coalitions are mathematically possible, and trigger weeks or months of bargaining to form a new government. Until she is in place, Merkel will remain in office on an interim basis.
This election “will decide the direction of Germany in the years to come, and so it will depend on each vote,” Laschet said in Aachen, on the western border of Germany.
Scholz voted in Potsdam, just outside Berlin, saying he hoped that the voters “will make possible (…) a very good result for the Social Democrats, and that the citizens will give me the mandate to become the next Chancellor of Germany “.
Also voting in Potsdam, Ms Baerbock said her party “hoped for a few more votes” than the polls predicted “so that we can make a real new start in this country”.
Merkel received praise for direction Germany through several major crises. His successor will have to deal with the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, which Germany has so far resisted relatively well thanks to sweeping bailout programs that have taken on new debt.
Laschet insists there should be no tax increases as Germany pulls out of the pandemic. Scholz and Baerbock are in favor of tax increases for the wealthiest Germans, and also support an increase in the minimum wage.
The main German parties have significant differences in their proposals for tackling climate change. The Laschet Union bloc is pinning its hopes on technological solutions and a market-oriented approach, while the Greens want to raise carbon prices and end the use of coal sooner than expected. Scholz stressed the need to protect jobs as Germany shifts to greener energy.
Foreign policy did not feature much in the campaign, although the Greens favor a tougher stance on China and Russia.
In Berlin, Wiebke Bergmann, a 48-year-old social worker, said Merkel’s departure made the election “really special”.
“I really thought about which candidate I wanted as the next chancellor – until this morning I had not made up my mind. None of the three really convinced me, ”added Bergmann. “All of them look good as human beings, but I’m not sure they can do a good job as the next chancellor. “
In the capital’s Kreuzberg district, a traditional left-wing stronghold, Jan Kemper, 41, director of an online bank, said climate change and Germany’s slow digitization were among his top concerns . He praised Merkel’s crisis-handling style, but said key issues had not been addressed.
“Previously, the elections set the course for the next two to four years,” he said. “Now decisions must be made that will affect future generations.”
During the campaign, Laschet and other Union leaders claimed that Scholz and the Greens would form a coalition with the Opposition Party, which opposes NATO and German military deployments. abroad. It is debatable whether such a partnership is realistic, given foreign policy and other party differences, but this line of attack can help train conservative voters.
Scholz has said he would like a bipartisan coalition with the Greens, but that sounds very optimistic. In the absence of a majority for that, his first choice would probably be an alliance with the pro-business Greens and Free Democrats.
A coalition with these two parties is also Laschet’s most likely path to power. The Greens are in favor of an alliance with the Social Democrats, while the Free Democrats prefer an alliance with the Union.
The result could also allow a repeat of the outgoing “grand coalition” of the main traditional parties, the Union and the Social Democrats, under Scholz or Laschet.
The far-right Alternative for Germany party is a little lower than the 12.6% it won to enter parliament in 2017, but will not be in any new government this time either. All the other parties say they will not work with it.
The Bundestag has at least 598 seats, but Germany’s complex voting system means it can be much larger. The outgoing parliament had a record 709 legislators; the new one should be even bigger.
Also on Sunday, voters in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in northeastern Germany – the two states currently ruled by Social Democrats – elect new state legislatures.
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Kirsten Grieshaber and Karin Laub contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the German elections on https://apnews.com/hub/germany-election
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