Far-right's agenda gets mainstreamed in Berlin

The results of the German elections largely aligned with the opinion polls.

- Gurjit Singh

This election saw a voter turnout of 83.5%, the highest since German reunification in 1990. Such a turnout typically signals a vote against incumbency, and this election was no exception.

The centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), in coalition with the Christian Social Union (CSU) of Bavaria, emerged as the largest political force, securing 28.5% of the vote, a 4% increase since 2021. The biggest winner of this election has been the right-wing populist party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), which secured 20.8% of the vote, a significant jump from the 10.4% in the previous elections. This makes the AfD the second-largest party in the Bundestag, a remarkable shift in Germany's political landscape.

The ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD), of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, garnered only 16.4% of the vote, marking its worst performance in a national election. Compared to its 25.7% share in 2021, the party lost a nine-percentage-point share of the vote, reflecting dissatisfaction with the ruling coalition. The Greens managed to hold onto 11.6% of the vote, down from 14.7% in 2021, a decline that may exclude them from participation in the next government.

The Free Democratic Party (FDP), the third member of the ruling coalition, saw an even steeper decline. In 2021, the FDP had secured 11.4% of the vote but has now plummeted to just 4.3%. The party has failed to meet the 5% threshold required for representation in the Bundestag, effectively excluding it from both government and parliament. The FDP's exit was a key factor in the collapse of the previous coalition government.