German election: Friedrich Merz urges 'independence' from US

Here are the latest projections of German election results, updated in real time.

 

 

NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte congratulated CDU leader Friedrich Merz on his election win.

"Congrats to [Friedrich Merz] on today’s election victory in [Germany]," Rutte said.

"Looking forward to working with you in this crucial moment for our shared security," he said. "It’s vital that Europe step up on defense spending and your leadership will be key."

In a post-election panel aired on state broadcaster ARD, Merz called for Europe to achieve "independence" from the United States due to statements made by US President Donald Trump. He called for NATO and Europe to shore up defenses.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that a victory by conservatives was a good thing for Germany and the world.

Writing on his Truth social platform, Trump said, "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." 

"This is a great day for Germany, and for the United States of America under the leadership of a gentleman named Donald J. Trump," he continued, adding, "Congratulations to all — many more victories to follow!!!"

Trump's top donor and advisor, Elon Musk, repeatedly made efforts to benefit the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, giving ample air time to its leader Alice Weidel on X, as well as repeatedly claiming "only the AfD can save Germany."

Alice Weidel, leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) which is projected to have come a comfortable second with around 20% of the vote, sad the AfD is prepared to enter a coalition government.

But given that the CDU and other major parties have ruled out working with the AfD, a host at a post-election panel asked Weidel lf a vote for her party was a waste.

"No, not at all," replies Weidel. "The vote is clear: the German people want political change, they want a black and blue [CDU-AfD] coalition. If they want to rule that out, fair enough. But then it's a pyrrhic victory for the CDU and not a result which exudes confidence and trust."

Weidel claims that the CDU have effectively adopted most of the AfD's manifesto and says: "They're going to have to explain to their voters how they're going to implement those promises while working with left-wing parties. If they form a government with the SPD and Greens, then interim chancellor Merz won't last four years."

Conservative Merz denied any similarities between the CDU and AfD, insisting that the parties have "fundamental differences" on foreign policy, security, NATO, Europe and the Euro as a currency.

"You can stretch out your hand all you want, Frau Weidel," he says. "But I won't sacrifice 50 years of CDU legacy to appease a so-called alternative for Germany which wants the opposite of everything we want."

While the votes are still being tallied, analysts are already speculate about the future ruling coalition in Germany. 

To form a government, a majority of at least 316 seats out of the 630 seats in the Bundestag is needed.

A coalition between CDU and AfD would have been possible numerically, as both parties easily pass this threshhold, adding up to 358. But according to conservative leader Friedrich Merz, this is out of the question.

That leaves Olaf Scholz's SPD as a possible partner, which together with CDU scrape by with 328 seats. A bigger majority could be formed if CDU were to add the Greens to the mix, reaching 416. But the CDU's junior partner CSU has repeatedly ruled out governing with the Greens.

Theoretically, the CDU could also lead a 3-party coalition that includes SPD and the Left party, but this is highly unlikely given very deep ideological differences between the conservatives and the far-left faction.

Prior to the election, some politicians discussed the possibility of a leftwing coalition of SPD, Greens and the Left, but tallied together, they cannot reach the 316 threshhold.

Ultimately, no coalition is possible without CDU and given CDU's bad relationship with Greens and the Left, that only leaves SPD as a possible coalition partner. The question remains if SPD will join in with CDU again, as they did with Angela Merkel, in a so-called "Grand Coalition."

 

The favorite for the future German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, sharply criticized Donald Trump's administration and urged Europe to distance from Washington during a post-election panel airing on state broadcaster ARD.

"I am communicating closely with a lot of prime ministers, and heads of EU states and for me it is an absolute priority to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible, so that we achieve independence from the US, step by step," Merz said.

"I never thought that I would ever need to say something like that, on television, but after the latest statements made by Donald Trump last week, it is clear, that the Americans — at any case these Americans, this administration — mostly don't care about the fate of Europe one way or another," the CDU leader added.

Merz said it was not certain what the future has in store for NATO and if Europe will need to act quickly to shore up its own defenses.

He also criticized Trump confidant and tech billionaire Elon Musk for meddling in the German election campaign, saying that the "intervention from Washington were no less drastic, dramatic, and ultimately no less brazen, than the intervention that we have seen from Moscow."

Markus Söder, the leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of the CDU, has backed up his ally Friedrich Merz by reiterating that the two parties, which act together as "the Union," will not work with the AfD.

"We can feel the insecurity of the German people, we can hear them wondering: will they really do it? Will they really bring about political change?" he said, suggesting that that uncertainty led some conservative voters to vote for the AfD.

"But let's be sensible here, do you really think a majority of Germans want to leave the European Union? Do a majority of Germans really want to ditch the Euro [as its currency]? Do the majority of Germans really want to sign up to what [fascist AfD politician] Björn Höcke calls a 'Eurasian interest community,' an absurd idea that would make this country a vassal state of Moscow? No, we won't be doing any of that."

But asked how the CDU/CSU wants to "bring about change," Söder also insisted it wouldn't be possible with the Green Party.

"On important issues like immigration and the economy, it's hard to know what the Greens stand for," he said, before taking aim at lead candidate Robert Habeck: "[Annalena] Baerbock achieved a better result last time."

The leader of Germany's businesses-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) Christian Lindner admitted that his party was "paying a high price" for bringing down Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition government.

Lindner, who served as Scholz finance minister until he was fired in a row over the 2025 budget, said the party "took the full political risk" that its maneuvers could lead to the government's collapse, but insisted to party supporters in Berlin that it was "the right decision for Germany."

The FDP fell out with partners the Social Democrats and Germany's Green Party in November 2024, leading to the fall of Scholz's coalition.

It remains unclear whether the FDP will clear the 5% threshold needed to claim seats in the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. Projections based on initial results put the party at 4.9%.

Lindner later told a post-election TV discussion that he would leave politics if his party did not cross the threshold.

"If the FDP leaves the Bundestag, it is quite clear that I will also leave politics," said Lindner. "If my political career ends tomorrow, I will leave with only one feeling: gratitude."

All parties of the current government coalition, the SPD, Greens and FDP, suffered losses at the ballot box, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party seeing a punishingly bad result and dropping to around 16% from 25.7% in 2021.

According to exit polls from German broadcaster ARD, 82% of German voters were dissatisfied with the current government coalition, with just 17% saying they were satisfied. Majorities of voters from all parties said they were dissatisfied with the government, but Green voters gave the coalition its highest marks, with 45% of its voters saying their were satisfied.

Sunday's snap election was brought about by the breakdown of the coalition itself.

Some 72% of German voters were dissatisfied with Scholz, with only 26% giving him a high approval.

DW has prepared  an overview of Sunday's results showing what percentage of the vote each party claimed as well as gains and losses as compared to the 2021 election, statistics by chancellor candidate, and other key info.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz has been discussing his preferred solutions for the next ruling coalition on German public broadcaster ARD.

"We have won this and we've won it clearly," he said. "I will now attempt to form a government which represents the entire republic and which will tackle the country's problems."

"What that government will look like, we don't yet know. But it's not a secret that would prefer one coalition partner rather than two. And a coalition with the AfD isn't up for debate. Their supporters knew that from the start and still voted for them."

As it stands (and the final result could still differ slightly from the initial exit poll), the CDU could not mathematically form a two-party coalition without the AfD. Even a so-called Grand Coalition with the SPD would only have 45% of the seats in parliament.

Merz could invite the Greens to give them a comfortable majority, but that would be an unpopular move among conservatives. Many would perhaps prefer to invite the Free Democrats (FDP) as a junior partner, providing the business-friendly party overcomes the minimum 5% hurdle.

First-time German voters, including young voters, appear to have voted overwhelmingly for parties on the far-left and far-right.

According to exit polls, 25% of voters aged 18-24 voted for the far-left Die Linke (The Left), a figure which rises to 27% among first-time voters, while 21% voted for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

A further 6% appear to have voted for the new left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which formed out of the Left Party last year.

In total, that suggests that over half of young voters have turned their backs on Germany's traditional, centrist parties, the CDU (13%), SPD (12%) and Greens (11%).

Watch as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) concedes defeat in Sunday's parliamentary election.

Watch as the conservative CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz declares his alliance to be the winner of Sunday's parliamentary election in Germany.

It seems to be a bitter night for the centrist parties, as none of them can really be happy, DW correspondent Rosalia Romaniec reported from CDU headquarters.

The AfD has won over one in five voters, achieving a historic result, enough to be a strong opposition to any government.

AfD leader Alice Weidel echoed the words of former party leader Alexander Gauland, saying "we will hunt down the others so that they make sensible policies for our country."

An unclear coalition forecast makes election night all the more difficult. Depending on the final result, the next government could even consist of four parties: CDU, CSU, SPD and FDP or Greens.

On election night, it certainly does not look like there will be political stability in Germany in troubled times.