{"id":245150,"date":"2025-02-23T21:55:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T21:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/23\/friedrich-merz-german-elections\/"},"modified":"2025-02-23T21:55:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T21:55:06","slug":"friedrich-merz-german-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/23\/friedrich-merz-german-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Friedrich Merz German elections"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/23\/multimedia\/23german-election-mqbz\/23german-election-mqbz-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Friedrich Merz German elections\" title=\"Friedrich Merz German elections\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Germans voted for a change of leadership on Sunday, handing the most votes in a parliamentary election to centrist conservatives, with the far right in second, and rebuking the nation\u2019s left-leaning government for its handling of the economy and immigration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Early returns and exit polls almost certainly mean the country\u2019s next chancellor will be Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democrats. But he will need at least one or \u2014 in a possibility that Germans were hoping to avoid \u2014 two coalition partners to govern.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe have won it,\u201d Mr. Merz told supporters in Berlin on Sunday evening, promising to swiftly form a parliamentary majority to govern the country and restore strong German leadership in Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The election, which was held seven months ahead of schedule after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz\u2019s unpopular and long-troubled three-party coalition, will now become an essential part of the European response to President Trump\u2019s new world order. It drew what appeared to be the highest voter turnout in decades.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Merz, 69, has promised to crack down on migrants and slash taxes and business regulations in a bid to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/21\/world\/europe\/germany-election-economy.html\" title=\"\">kick-start economic growth<\/a>. He also vowed to bring a more assertive foreign policy to help Ukraine and stronger leadership in Europe at a moment when the new Trump administration has sowed anxiety by scrambling traditional alliances and embracing Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Merz, a businessman, was once seen as a potentially better partner for Mr. Trump, but in the campaign\u2019s final days he mused about whether the United States would remain a democracy under Mr. Trump. He strongly condemned what Germans saw as meddling by Trump administration officials on behalf of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMy top priority, for me, will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that we can gradually achieve real independence from the U.S.A.,\u201d Mr. Merz said in a televised round-table after polls closed. \u201cI would never have thought I\u2019d be saying something like this on TV, but after last week\u2019s comments from Donald Trump, it\u2019s clear that this administration is largely indifferent to Europe\u2019s fate, or at least to this part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The first wave of returns and exit polls suggested that his Christian Democrats and their sister party, the Christian Social Union, would win a combined 29 percent of the vote. It was a low share historically for the top party in a German election, and the second-lowest showing ever for Mr. Merz\u2019s party in a chancellor election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Both are signs of the<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>multiplying fissures in the nation\u2019s politics and the weaknesses of the centrist mainstream parties that have governed Germany for decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There was great suspense on Sunday evening about the coalition Mr. Merz would be able to assemble, but he was clearly hoping for a rerun of the centrist governments that ran Germany for much of former Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s 16-year tenure: the Christian Democrats in the lead, with the Social Democrats as a lone junior partner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was unclear if that would be possible. Two parties were hovering around the 5 percent of support needed to get into Parliament: the pro-business Free Democrats and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, which is a pro-Russia splinter from the old German left. If both cleared the 5 percent threshold, Mr. Merz could be forced into a more difficult three-party coalition, unable to form a majority with just one partner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That could mean the repeat of a potentially unwieldy and unstable government for Germany, reconfigured but with some of the same vulnerabilities as the one that recently collapsed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The complication comes because Mr. Merz has promised never to join with the second-place finisher, the AfD, which routinely flirts with Nazi slogans and whose members have diminished the Holocaust and have been linked to plots to overthrow the government. But the returns showed that the AfD is a growing force in German politics, even if it fell short of its ambitions in this election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The AfD nearly doubled its vote share from four years ago, largely by appealing to voters upset by the millions of refugees who entered the country over the last decade from the Middle East, Afghanistan, Ukraine and elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Its vote share appeared to fall short of its support in the polls from a year ago, however. Many analysts had been expecting a stronger showing, after a sequence of events that elevated the party and its signature issue of migration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The AfD received public support from Vice President JD Vance and the billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk. It sought to make political gains out of a series of deadly attacks committed by migrants in recent months, including in the final days of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But that boon never materialized for the AfD or for Mr. Merz, who drove his party to the right on migration in a bid to cut off a flow of voters to the AfD. Reaction to the recent attacks and the support from Trump officials may have even mobilized a late burst of support to Die Linke, the party of Germany\u2019s far left, which campaigned on a pro-immigration platform, some voters suggested in interviews on Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For all of that movement, the most likely coalition partner for Mr. Merz appears to be the one analysts have predicted for months: Mr. Scholz\u2019s center-left Social Democrats, even though they experienced a steep drop in support from four years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Other possible partners include the Greens, who appeared to be poised for fourth place in the voting. Negotiations with possible partners began soon after polls closed on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Interviews and early returns suggested voters were angry at Mr. Scholz\u2019s government over high grocery prices and inadequate wage growth. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many voters, even those who backed the Christian Democrats, said they were not enthusiastic about Mr. Merz personally. But they hoped that he could forge a strong government to solve problems at home and abroad and keep Germany\u2019s far right at bay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe biggest risk for Germany at the moment is that we will have an unstable majority,\u201d said Felix Saalfeld, a 32-year-old doctor in the eastern city of Dresden, who voted for Mr. Merz\u2019s Christian Democrats. \u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s best if the CDU\/CSU gets a lot of votes and we can somehow form a coalition with as few people as possible, even if it\u2019s not my party.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Merz will likely face a daunting task in attempting to reinvigorate a slumping economy that has not grown, in real terms, for half a decade. He also will <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/22\/world\/europe\/germany-election-trump.html\" title=\"\">seek to lead Europe<\/a> in trade and security conflicts with Mr. Trump and an American administration that has rapidly been reshuffling its global alliances. Voters said they would look to the next government to cushion the pain of post-pandemic inflation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEverything is getting more expensive, and at the same time, wages are not rising,\u201d said Rojin Yilmaz, 20, a trainee at Allianz in Aschaffenburg, a city where an immigrant with mental illness killed a toddler and an adult in January. Mr. Yilmaz voted for Die Linke.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In interviews in Dresden, a bastion of support for the AfD, some voters said they had lost faith in other parties to address immigration and other issues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI voted for the AfD,\u201d said Andreas M\u00fchlbach, 70. \u201cIt is the only alternative that is able to change things here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">With support for the AfD on the rise, Martin Milner, 59, an educator and musician in Potsdam who split his ticket between the Greens and Die Linke, said he hopes German\u2019s defensive democracy holds fast against the right-wing threat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019m hoping that this system will show itself to be resilient enough,\u201d Mr. Milner said, \u201cthat it can manage the problems we have without drifting to one extreme or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Reporting was contributed by <!-- -->Christopher F. Schuetze<!-- -->, <!-- -->Melissa Eddy<!-- --> and <!-- -->Tatiana Firsova<!-- --> from Berlin; <!-- -->Sam Gurwitt<!-- --> from Aschaffenburg; <!-- -->Adam Sella<!-- --> from Potsdam; and <!-- -->Catherine Odom<!-- --> from Dresden.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/23\/world\/europe\/friedrich-merz-a-conservative-appears-poised-to-be-germanys-next-chancellor.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Germans voted for a change of leadership on Sunday, handing the most votes in a parliamentary election to centrist conservatives, with the far right in second, and rebuking the nation\u2019s left-leaning government for its handling of the economy and immigration. Early returns and exit polls almost certainly mean the country\u2019s next chancellor will be Friedrich [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/23\/multimedia\/23german-election-mqbz\/23german-election-mqbz-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[163424,841,169018,190352,163575,67,2534,896,189512,179363,10563,4791,90287,164426,3096,169367,190124,137132,177831,179362,6039,163420,176990,137131,88818,190125,98976,176989,190351,52,128437,163486,81146],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245150"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245152,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245150\/revisions\/245152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}