Merz in pole position after big German ballot

THE last time Germany held a snap national election, in 2005, there was a change of power from left-of-centre to right-of-centre that brought Angela Merkel to power. On Sunday (Feb 23), history repeated itself in a result that saw the political pendulum again shift from left to right in a way which will have key economic and foreign policy implications.

In what was only the West’s latest change election, following power shifts last year in nations including the United States and the United Kingdom, the big story is not just the emergence of the right-of-centre Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Christian Social Union (CSU) as the largest bloc. It is also the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which received backing during the campaign from the Trump team, including from US Vice-President JD Vance, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk who is informally heading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.

In a big turnout election that saw well over 80 per cent of voters cast a ballot, the highest since German reunification in 1990, the AfD finished a strong second with around twice the votes secured at the last election. While the CDU/CSU will not bring AfD into its eventual coalition, the rise of the far-right party might not have yet lost momentum, especially if the issue of immigration becomes more politically salient.