What's behind AfD's rise?

Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), very closely allied with its Bavarian partner the Christian Social Union (CSU), has come first in the German elections.

- SEAN O'GRADY

Merz will thus be the next chancellor of Germany, but without an overall majority in the lower house of the German parliament, the Bundestag, he cannot yet form a government. Therefore the present chancellor, Olaf Scholz, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) (which suffered a rout), will continue until a coalition is formed.

The obvious winners in the election were the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), who took 10.3 million votes, doubling their vote share to 20.8 per cent. Merz called this election the “last chance” for Germany’s traditional parties to prove that they can make the system work...

Who lost?

It’s easy to see who lost. Scholz has presided over a “traffic light” coalition with the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FPD) since 2021, but tensions between the parties, exacerbated by the energy crisis and economic stagnation, triggered the collapse of the unpopular administration, and a snap election. All three parties suffered setbacks, with the FPD losing its representation in the Bundestag (for which 5 percent of the vote is needed). Scholz’s career is now over.