Sunday’s federal election in Germany was historic for more than one reason. After the collapse of the so-called ‘traffic light’ coalition under chancellor Olaf Scholz, it was only the fourth time a snap election had been held in post-war Germany. And just like in 1983 and 2005, a Christian Democrat will be taking over the chancellor’s office.
Friedrich Merz and his alliance of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) emerged as the winners with 28.5 per cent of the votes on Sunday. For Merz, it seems likely that his incredibly long wait to be chancellor is over. Over 20 years ago, he lost an internal battle against Angela Merkel and was essentially in the political wilderness until a few years ago.
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