Germans have elected a new parliament. Here are the most important trends you need to know.
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Who has won the German election?
The center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), have been projected as the winners of Germany's February 23,2025, parliamentary election. The Union parties enjoy a lead of some 10 percentage points over the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), which came in second.
The governing Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Greens followed in third and fourth places, while the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), which was previously part of a three-way governing coalition, looks as if it will fail to make it back into parliament.
Vote gains / losses by party
As polls close it has become clear that the big winner of the night was the AfD, which added 9.8% to its share of the vote since the last federal elections; with the SPD inversely slipping by nearly as much (-9.5%).
Overall vote shares by party
Returns point to a resounding victory for CDU/CSU (28.6%) and AfD in second place with 20.4%. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's SPD came in a distant third, taking only 16.3% of the vote. Neither the FDP nor the BSW look to have cleared the 5% parliamentary hurdle.
Distribution of seats
With returns in, the make up of Germany's Bundestag is becoming clearer, with the CDU/CSU scoring 208 of seats, followed by AfD with 151 and the SPD with 121.
Who will be Germany's next chancellor?
Voters who cast their ballots on February 23, 2025, did not directly elect the next German chancellor. Instead, they will elect politicians to the Bundestag, the lower house of German parliament. Unless a party wins an outright majority by itself, the party with the most representatives in the Bundestag attempts to build a governing coalition that holds a parliamentary majority. Ordinarily, the party with the most votes in a ruling coalition appoints its declared chancellor candidate to lead the government.
Who are Germany's top candidates in the 2025 election?
Ahead of the February 23 snap election, Germany's political parties have selected their top candidates. Here is the lineup.
Image: Carsten Koall/dpa/picture alliance
Olaf Scholz, SPD (born 1958)
The lifelong Social Democrat considers himself an efficient pragmatist. He ran his own law firm and looks back on a decadeslong political career, holding government positions from mayor of Hamburg to, on the federal level, labor minister, finance minister and chancellor. Scholz has failed to shake off the widespread perception that he is an arrogant bureaucrat and is polling low in public support.
Image: Carsten Koall/dpa/picture alliance
Friedrich Merz, CDU (born 1955)
A conservative Christian Democrat, Merz is the oldest candidate for chancellor that a German party has put forth in over 50 years. A staunch Catholic and business lawyer from western Germany's rural Sauerland, Merz looks back on a long career in private enterprise, including a stint at one of the world's largest asset management corporations, BlackRock, as well as several years in the Bundestag.
Image: Ruffer/Caro/picture alliance
Robert Habeck, Greens (born 1969)
With his trademark tousled and unshaven look, Robert Habeck seems approachable. The pragmatic politician has no problem admitting his own mistakes. It was Habeck who found simple and heartfelt words to explain the government's political decisions to the public and offset the perceived arrogance of his coalition partners. Before his political career, he was an author, translator and philosopher.
Image: appeler/dpa/picture alliance
Alice Weidel, AfD (born 1979)
Weidel, co-chair of the far-right Alternative for Germany, holds a doctorate in economics, worked and studied in China, and embraces euro- and NATO-skeptic positions. Weidel is renowned for provocation and incendiary anti-immigrant rhetoric. She lives in Switzerland in a civil partnership with a woman from Sri Lanka. Together, they have two adopted children.
The finance minister who helped bring down Scholz's Cabinet, Lindner studied political science, founded a small advertising business and is a reserve officer in the air force. He became chairman of the neoliberal Free Democrats at the age of only 34 and remains the party's unchallenged leader. He has a reputation as social media-savvy and stylish and is known for his love of sports cars.
Image: Hannes P Albert/dpa/picture alliance
Sahra Wagenknecht, BSW (born 1969)
Wagenknecht, a former leader of the Left, is a frequent guest on political talk shows and a master of populist rhetoric, deriding other politicians as stupid and hypocritical. She espouses conservative social views and left-inspired economic policies, as well as anti-migration positions. She is skeptical of climate change and critical of NATO and dominates her eponymous Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance.
Image: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/picture alliance
Heidi Reichinnek and Jan van Aken
The Left Party duo has set out to reenergize the party. Sixty-three year-old Van Aken is a former biological weapons inspector for the United Nations, 36-year-old Reichinnek is a graduate in Middle East studies. She has grabbed the headlines with fiery speeches in parliament and has become the party's social media star.
Image: Fabian Sommer/dpa/picture alliance
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Despite not being directly elected, the popularity of each party's top candidate is regularly tracked alongside that of the party itself. Friedrich Merz, the CDU/CSU's chancellor candidate, is currently the frontrunner for the job.
This is particularly interesting if you look at Merz's current numbers compared to those from 2021 — Merz was not the CDU/CSU chancellor candidate in that election, but pollsters still tracked his popularity. The 2021 election resulted in a three-way coalition between the center-left SPD, the environmentalist Greens, and the neoliberal FDP. The recent collapse of that coalition triggered the February 23 vote.
Polling indicates that Merz is not in front because his own approval ratings have improved so significantly, but rather because Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD chancellor candidate) and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens chancellor candidate) have become so unpopular.