German elections AFD – German conservatives led by Friedrich Merz, prepared to win polls, show output surveys

The opposition conservatives in Germany won the national elections on Sunday, putting the leader Friedrich Merz on the way to be the next chancellor, while the far-right alternative for Germany came in second place, his best result, the polls showed out of exit.

Following a campaign that is thrown by a series of violent attacks and interventions of the administration of US President Donald Trump, the CDU/CSU Block Conservative won 28.5% of the votes, followed by AFD with 20%, an outing survey published by Broadcaster Public Zdf showed.

Social -the social democrats of the Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) decreased to the worst result from the World War II, with 16.5% of the voting quota, according to the ZDF output survey.

The green was 12%, while the FDP climbed around the threshold of 5% to enter the Parliament. A late growth in the campaign by Linke Die Far Far Party offered 9% of the votes, while BSW from Breakaway, BSW, led by Sahra Wagenknecht, slipped by 5%.

The results set the stage for prolonged coalition discussions and probably means a three-way coalition formed from one or two of the three parties that were part of Scholz’s unpopular alliance that collapsed in November.

Merz, 69 years old, has no previous government experience, but promised that he will provide greater leadership than Scholz and will connect more with key allies, restoring Germany in the heart of Europe.

An economic liberal who has changed the conservatives to the right, he is considered the antithesis of the former conservative chancellor Angela Merkel, who drove Germany for 16 years.

With a majority in a more and more fragmented political landscape, however, its conservatives will have to sound partners to form a coalition.

These negotiations are confident that they are complicated after a campaign that has exposed sharp divisions for migration and how to deal with AFD in a country where extremely right policy bears a very strong stigma due to its Nazi past.

This could leave Scholz in a role as a Monday caregiver, the emergency delay of the policies needed to revive the greatest economy of Europe after two consecutive years of contraction and as companies are fighting against rivals. global.

It would also create a leading vacuum in the heart of Europe, even if they deal with a number of challenges, including US President Donald Trump, who threatens a trade war and is trying to quickly follow a fire termination for Ukraine without involving European.

Germany, which has an export -oriented economy and has long based on the United States for its security, is particularly vulnerable.

The Germans are more pessimistic in terms of their standard of living now than at any time since the 2008 financial crisis.

Attitudes towards migration also strengthened a deep change in the German public feeling from its culture “welcome refugees” during the migrant crisis in Europe in 2015, which AFD led and used.

Musk weighs

Sunday’s elections came after the collapse of his SPD, The Greens and Pro-Market FDP over budgetary expenses last November last November.

The election campaign was dominated by fierce exchanges on perception that irregular immigration It is out of control, powered by a series of attacks in which they made suspected perpetrators of the origin of migrants.

He was also shaded by the unusually strong solidarity show by the Trump Administration – including JD Vance Vice President and Billionaire Tech Elon Musk – for AFD Anti -Migrantand Broadsides against European leaders.

The 12 -year -old AFD party took second place for the first time in the national elections, according to the output surveys.

Certainly, AFD is unlikely to govern so far, because all mainstream parties have excluded working with it, although some analysts believe that its power could open the way for an AFD victory in 2029.

The support for AFD, together with a small but significant voting share, for the extreme left and the decline of the large parties of Germany, increasingly complicates the formation of coalitions and government.

EU allies are hopeless that the elections could provide a more coherent government capable of contributing to the management of the policy before and in the block.

Some also hope that Merz will reform the “debt brake”, a constitutional mechanism to limit the government loans that critics say it has strangled new investments.