The center-left German Social Democrats win national elections by just beating the center-right block of the Union of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a hard-fought electoral competition that will determine who will succeed the historic leader at the helm of Europe’s largest economy. For the Social Democrat candidate Olaf Scholz, outgoing deputy chancellor and finance minister who pulled his party out of a years-long crisis, the result is “a very clear mandate.”
Electoral officials said the tally of all 299 constituencies showed that the Social Democrats received 25.9% of the votes, compared with 24.1% in the Union bloc. No winning party in a German national election had ever taken less than 31% of the vote.
Despite scoring its worst ever result in federal competition, the Union bloc said it too will speak with smaller parties to discuss the formation of a government, while Merkel will remain in a guardian role until oath of successor. Armin Laschet, the governor of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia who overtook a more popular rival to secure the appointment of Merkel’s Union bloc, struggled to motivate the party base and slipped into a series of missteps. “Of course, the loss of votes is not nice,” said Laschet, adding however that Merkel is leaving after 16 years in power: “no one has had a bonus in these elections.”
Laschet told supporters that “everything possible will be done to form a government under the leadership of the Union, because Germany now needs a coalition for the future to modernize the country.” Both Laschet and Scholz will court the same two parties: the environmental Greens, who came in third with 14.8%, and the Free Democrats, who took 11.5% of the votes. The Greens traditionally lean towards the Social Democrats and the Free Democrats for the Union, but neither has ruled out going over to the other side.
La Linke entra al Bundestag
Surprisingly, Linke will enter the Bundestag without having exceeded the 5% threshold thanks to a rule that provides for entry into parliament even for a party that wins in three single-member constituencies without reaching the threshold. The Guardian reports it.
The SPD also wins in Berlin. For the first time a mayor for the capital
The Social Democrats also won the elections for the renewal of the local parliament in the German capital. The SPD and candidate Franziska Giffey obtained 21.4% of the votes, as announced by the electoral commission at the end of the counting of the votes. At the Verdi by Bettina Jarasch, 18.9% of the votes, while the CDU stops at 18.1%. Followed by Linke, with 14% of the votes, the Afd with 8% and the Fdp with 7.1%.