German elections: center-left narrowly wins against Merkel’s party

Germany’s center-left Social Democrats narrowly beat outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party in the federal election, preliminary results show.

SPD leader Olaf Scholz has said he has a clear mandate to form a government, but his conservative rival, Armin Laschet, is determined to fight.

The two parties have governed together for years, but they are unlikely to continue.

Instead, the Greens and the Liberals are looking for a role in a new coalition.

The two parties drew the most support from the under-30s, in an election dominated by climate change and divergent proposals on how to deal with it. The Greens made history with nearly 15% of the vote, even if it was well below their ambitions.

It was the tightest race in years, ending the post-war domination of the two big parties – Mr Scholz’s SPD and his rival’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). For the center-left, it was a significant improvement over the last election, but for the Conservatives, it was their worst performance ever.

The exit polls predicted a stalemate, but this election was unpredictable from the start, and the result was never going to be the end of the story. On the one hand, the outgoing Chancellor is not going anywhere until the coalition is formed – and that may have to wait until Christmas.

The successor’s task is to lead Europe’s largest economy over the next four years, with climate change high on the voters’ agenda.

Mr Scholz’s SPD supporters greeted him with rapture, but it was only later, when his party took the lead that he told a televised hearing that voters had given him the task of training a “good pragmatic government for Germany”.

His conservative rival fought back, arguing that it was a question of forging a coalition, not of obtaining “an arithmetic majority”. The winner doesn’t take everything, in other words.

CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak did not conceal the defeat on Monday morning, but said that was not the point: “Ultimately the question is going to be whether you can create a real project for the future? “

“Two Chancellors and Two Kingmakers” – was one of the headlines summing up Sunday night’s rather rambling result, but that’s what it looked like.

Because it is not just the Social Democrats and the Conservative leaders who are fighting for power. The two kingmakers are open to offers.

Together, the Liberals and Greens represent over a quarter of the vote and would push the two big parties over the line.

They may be more popular with younger voters than any other party, but it would take some skill to bring them together under one roof.

Green leader Annalena Baerbock wants to ease Germany’s debt relief which is preventing a sharp increase in public debt. FDP leader Christian Lindner has little time for his party’s “ideas of tax hikes or easing the debt brake”.

Thus, of all possible coalitions, the Greens and the Liberals are among the two that are most likely to form.

One is the so-called traffic light coalition, made up of party colors – red (SPD), yellow (FDP) and Greens – or there is the Jamaican alternative, black (CDU), yellow (FDP) and the Greens.

This is the first time that Germany has faced a three-party coalition, but the country has entered a new political era and talks have not yet started.

Beyond the four traditional parties, it was a bad night for the radical left and an uneven night for the far right.

Left wing Die Linke fell below the 5% threshold required to enter parliament but survived as it secured three direct terms.

And although the far-right AfD’s voice share appears to have declined nationally, it is expected to be the largest party in the states of eastern Saxony and Thuringia.