As was widely predicted, Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has won Germany’s federal elections with around 28 per cent of the vote. For the first time since the formation of the Federal Republic in 1949, a far-right party – the Alternative for Germany (AfD) – has come second in a national election, winning an unprecedented fifth of the vote.
The AfD surge seen tonight will dominate politics for the next four years. The party has pulled off an historic upset in the face of near-universal hostility from other parties and the media. The far right benefited hugely from a campaign largely focused on migration, its core issue. A series of terror attacks committed by refugees and asylum seekers in the weeks before the vote ensured that it could not be otherwise.
The incoming chancellor faces ‘Herculean’ challenges
When discussion was not about migration, it was about how to deal with the AfD, a consequence of Merz’s rash decision to seek far-right votes for a resolution on immigration in January.
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