German election: CDU/CSU bloc wins — preliminary results
Rob Turner
February 23, 2025
CDU's Friedrich Merz has claimed victory while SPD's Olaf Scholz has regretted the "bitter" election result. The German electoral authority confirmed the CDU's win in preliminary results, followed by the far-right AfD.
Friedrich Merz is on course to replace Olaf Scholz as chancellorImage: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/picture alliance
Advertisement
The conservative Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) have gained the highest percentage of seats in the German election with 28.6%, the German electoral authority said in preliminary results.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) were the runners-up with 20.8% and coming in third were the center-left Social Democrats with 16.4%.
However, the election of Germany's new chancellor by the Bundestag won't take place until a governing coalition has been formed. This could take months.
CDU/CSU candidate Friedrich Merz is now be the frontrunner to succeed Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Merz has already claimed victory, urging "independence" from the US.
"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 said during a post-election panel airing on state broadcaster ARD.
Conservative CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor Friedrich Merz declared to be the winner of Sunday's parliamentary election in Germany.
"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."
He said he would prefer one coalition partner instead of two.
Chancellor Scholz acknowledged the "election defeat" and described his party's performance as a "bitter election result."
Green Party lead candidate Robert Habeck defended his party's projected 13% of the vote as "respectable," reasoning that the Greens "haven't collapsed" like the other coalition parties, the SPD and the FDP.
AfD Alice Weidel said the party is prepared to enter a coalition government.
Weidel claimed that the CDU, which has vowed not to form a coalition with her party, have effectively adopted most of the AfD's manifesto.
"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."
How long does it take to form a coalition?
The process could take weeks, or even months. In 2017, coalition negotiations took the longest amount of time in German history, leaving the country without a government for almost six months. However, if the political priorities of the partners are more closely aligned, and only two parties are involved instead of three, things can go much more quickly.
Germany's colorful coalition shorthand
Foreign flags and even traffic lights are used to describe the various coalitions that emerge in German elections. Coalitions are common under Germany's proportional representation system.
Image: Getty Images
Black-red coalition
The Conservatives black combined with the traditional red of the political left is the color code when the Christian Democrats govern in a "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats. This combination of Germany's two "big tent" parties, was in power first from 1966-69 and most recently for eight years until 2021, led by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Image: picture-alliance/R. Goldmann
Black-red coalition
The Conservatives black combined with the traditional red of the political left is the color code when the Christian Democrats govern in a "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats. This combination of Germany's two "big tent" parties, was in power first from 1966-69 and most recently for eight years until 2021, led by then-Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Image: Odermann/IMAGO
Black and Green
The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has teamed up with the ecologist Greens in several German states cooperating smoothly at the regional level. On the national level the two parties see eye to eye especially on strong support for Ukraine. They disagree on nuclear and renewable energy, and many conservatives despise the Greens for their multicultural and "woke" positions.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
'Traffic light' coalition — Red, Yellow, Green
From 2021-2025 Germany was governed by a center-left coalition of Social Democrats (SPD), ecologist Greens, and free-market-oriented neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), whose color is yellow. The government known as "Ampel" (traffic light) in Germany, started out as a self-declared "Fortschrittskoalition" (progress coalition) but got mired in infighting and became the least popular government ever.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/J.Büttner
Black, Red, Green — like Kenya's flag
If the center-right CDU/CSU fails to be able to forge a two-way coalition, teaming up with the Greens and the center-left SPD may be the only option for a comfortable majority. It has been tested on a regional level: The eastern German state of Saxony was governed by such a coalition until 2024, when it failed to get a new mandate.
Image: Fotolia/aaastocks
The Germany coalition — Black, Red and Yellow
The neoliberal FDP has been junior coalition partner to both the center-right CDU/CSU and the center-left SPD on the national level. A three-way coalition was forged on the state level, for example in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The FDP's drop in support in regional elections and opinion polls, however, makes it an unlikely partner for the federal government.
Image: Hoffmann/Caro/picture alliance
'Jamaica' option — black, yellow and green
A three-way deal between the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), did not come about at the national level in 2017 after the FDP called off talks. It has been tested at a state level. But the recent three-way national government saw the FDP and Green positions as irreconcilable and mutual animosity would seem almost impossible to overcome.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/dpaweb
Black and Orange
Since 2018 Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) has been governing with the Free Voters (FV), whose color is Orange. The FV is a grass-roots populist and far-right-leaning party and is led by its controversial chairman Hubert Aiwanger. Strong in rural areas of southern and eastern Germany, the Freie Wähler is seeking a larger role at the national level and currently has three MEPs.
Image: Privat
Blackberry coalition
In graphics showing opinion polls, the new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is shown in violet. That may be fitting, as it combines socialist, far-left (red) with populist right wing (blue) ideas in its platform. Although the party was only founded in 2024, it is doing so well in the eastern German states that it may well be asked to join coalition governments. Possibly led by the CDU (Black).
Image: Oliver Berg/dpa/picture alliance
Blackberry Coalition
CDU (black), SPD (red) and BSW (violet). The new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance's (BSW) color violet, seems fitting as it combines socialist, far-left (red) with populist right wing (blue) ideas in its platform. Although the party was only founded in 2024, it did so well in the eastern German states that it entered a coalition government with the SPD and CDU in the state of Thuringia.
Image: Colourbox
10 images1 | 10
How is the German chancellor chosen?
Parties select their lead candidate prior to the election. After the vote, parties seek to form a governing coalition. When a potential coalition has been assembled, the German president (Germany's head of state) presents a candidate to be elected chancellor (head of government) by members of the Bundestag.
The individual selected by the president is typically the top candidate of the senior coalition partner of a newly-formed government. A candidate must secure an absolute majority to win the secret ballot vote. After a winner is determined he or she can begin naming Cabinet nominees.
Advertisement
How does Germany's election system work?
The German electoral system is designed to produce coalition governments. In German elections, each voter casts two ballots — the so-called "Erststimme" and "Zweitstimme" (first ballot, second ballot).
The first ballot is cast for a "direct" candidate from a voter's constituency, the second is cast for a political party.
Candidates on state lists enter parliament according to their place on the list, and the number of seats their party wins in a respective state — the more seats they win in a state, the more candidates from their state lists are appointed to fill them.
The more second ballots a party receives, the more seats it is allotted in the parliament. Thus, the second vote determines the relative strength of the parties represented in the Bundestag.
Any party that wins more than 5% of the total vote is guaranteed a place in the Bundestag.
