Winning the most votes and providing the next Chancellor of Germany – Christian Democrats (CDU )’s Conservative Union and its Bavarian Sister Party The Christian Social Union (CSU) have achieved this target. On the night of election in Berlin, CDU leader and Union Chancellor candidate enthusiast Frederick Merz, “We won the 2025 federal election.”
However, the ceremony at the party headquarters was muted. The conservative expected a much better result: “30% Plus X,” as he said on the campaign trail.
Finally, he obtained around 28% of the votes – not enough to rule alone under Germany’s electoral system.
Given purely the number, the second place for Germany (AFD) may be on the option. One of the five German voters chose the populist party, some parts of which are considered right -wing extremists.
“We are doubled! They wanted to make us half, but the opposite happened,” AFD co-leader Ellis Vedelan won on Sunday after the results came out. For Vedel, CDU and CSU Voli are capable of fulfilling their election promises, working with AFDs, discovering irregular migrations.
However, during the election campaign, the CDU/CSU classified refused to form a coalition government with AFD. On Sunday, Merz reiterated, “We have fundamental differences on topics of Europe, NATO and Euro currency, in many other areas, in security policy, for example, in security policy.”
“You can hold your hand as much as you want,” he told Vedel, who in turn threatened that, as the biggest opposition force, the AFD would pressurize the government. “We want the other hound, so they make sensitive policies for our country,” he said.
Merz changes promises
The main subject during the campaign, apart from the weak economy, what is the refuge policy. “You can eliminate uncertainty among German people,” how CSU’s lead Marcus Soder analyzed AFD’s success. People were not sure that CDU/CSU Wild actually applies its celebrity. This is why many voters “wound” with AFD, Soder said, “We will do everything to organize direct changes in Germany.”
The Center-Left Social Democrats (SPD) and environmental Sag are a possible coalition partner. Both sides, who were in the previous government, should first face their losses. SPD was given a tough fight – its worst election result Sion 1890 was suffering with about 16% of the votes.
“This is a bitter election result for the Social Democratic Party,” the Chancellor Olaf Sholaz accepted, which is in the role until he took over as the new government. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius spoke of “destruction, frightening outcome”.
Chancellor Sholz, SPD punished by voters
The Sholz is not only German Chancellor in the last five decades. His coalition of SPD, Greens and Nioliberl Free Democrats (FDP) ruled for less than three years, when it fell on budget disputes in early November 2024. Scholz has already announced that if SPD is part of the new government, it does not want a ministerial role.
It was not only SPD that was punished by voters. FDP was largely lost, the voter aids failed to clean the so-called “5% obstacle” of the assistance, which they would not represent in the next Bundestag Parliament. FDP leader Christian Lindner announced his retirement from politics after defeat.
Greens succeeded in including its loss. The top candidate of the party, Robert Habec, spoke of a “respectable election result”: “We were not so seriously punished, but we want more, and we’ve not achieved it.” If the CDU/CSU needed greens to form an alliance, his party was ready to talk, Habec said.
Left party secures its place in Bundestag
The Sangh had already refused an alliance with the Socialist Left Party. After the separation of Sahara Wagoncate Alliance (BSW) from the left in early 2024, the support for the Left party declined by 3 % in the elections. However, the Left Party on Sunday created the unexpected Combak; With more than 8% of the vote, it was a surprise winner among small parties.
No matter how complicated the coalition talks become, the future government of Germany faces huge challenges. In view of many pressure issues, the process of forming the government should be early, Mars said on the evening of his election victory. “The world is not waiting for us, nor is it waiting for the Blingy coalition talks and conversation,” he said.
Germany must be ready for re -action quickly, “So we may be present in Europe again and the world believes that Germany is firmly ruled.” For CDU, it can be more successful if the coalition agreement was designed more like “framework” instead of detailed hash.
Germany is the biggest economic crisis since reunion
Merz is in favor of economic development, and has called for a cut in social services. The biggest challenge for the new government is the funding of its future budget. Tax revenue is no longer enough for all upcoming government work. Increased military expenses, restoring broken infrastructure, changing the country to be climate friendly – all this will be above the Arab Euro. It comes at a time when Germany is in the midst of its biggest economic crisis since the renovation in 1990.
This federal election was the first since Russia’s major aggressive against Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Since then, the German government has allocated € 28 billion ($ 29 billion) for military support for Ukraine. This has made Germany the second largest supporter of the Kiev government after the US.
But US President Donald Trump has taken over for the second time in January, and the new US government has made a comeback to Europe. According to Washington, further help for Ukraine is primarily a job for Europeans. From now on, Europe should take maximum responsibility for its defense capacity.
International expectations for Germany
The government needs to determine its priorities quickly. If the Germany wants to play the role of leadership to implement the CDU during the election campaign, especially. “As Germany, we need to play a major role in Europe, not from above, but with France, with Poland, with strong European Union,” CDU General Secretary Carston Linman emphasized public broadcaster Ard Shortly before the vote.
The new Bundestag is required to gather later since March 25. According to the Constitution of Germany, the term of Chancellor Olaf Sholaz and the rest of the federal government ends with this inaugural session. If there is no new government until then, the old will remain in the office in a caretaker capacity.
This article was original in German.
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