Germany’s conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz won the national election on Sunday, while far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) followed in second place, rougly doubling its support in the strongest projections since World War II.
According to the exit polls and partial counting, Merz’s Union bloc garnered around 28.5% votes, while the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany’s support was projected to be 20.5%, AP reported.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat for his center-left Social Democrats, calling it “a bitter election result”. Projections for ARD and ZDF public television showed his party finishing in third place, in what is being said as its worst postwar national parliamentary election result.
The exit poll projections put the support for Scholz’s party at just over 16%, which was much lower than what it gained in the last election and also their previous post-war low of 20.5% in the 2017 polls.
Merz stated that he hopes to put a coalition government together by Easter, but that is likely to be challenging. He also said that he would strive to form a federal government that represents the population of Germany and solves the country’s problems.
“We- the @CDU and the @CSU have won this federal election. Thank you for the trust you have placed in us and in me. And in this context I would like to say a word of respect for our political competitors. We will now quickly fulfill our government mandate, because the world out there is not waiting for us. Nor is it waiting for long coalition talks and negotiations. We must now quickly become capable of action again,” Merz stated in a post on X, following his victory in the elections.
The election in Germany were necessitated after Chancellor Scholz lost a vote of confidence in November last year, which led to the collapse of his government. As a result, the election, which was supposed to take place later this year, took place seven months earlier on February 23.
Trump Congratulates Merz, Slams Scholz’s Regime
Meanwhile, US president Donald Trump congratulated winner Merz and called the victory of the conservative alliance “a great day” for Germany as he slammed Scholz’s regime and said that the people got tired of his “no common sense agenda”.
“Looks like the Conservative Party in Germany has won the very big and highly anticipated election. Much like the USA, the people of Germany got tired of the no common sense agenda, especially on energy and immigration, that has prevailed for so many years,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Elon Musk had expressed support for the far-right AfD and even addressed a campaign launch for the party last month, expressing strong support for it and calling it Germany’s “best hope”.
The American tech billionaire had appeared alongside AfD leader Alice Weidel and echoed the party’s nationalist sentiments as he expressed support for the party ahead of the snap elections.
