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@ The Guardian World
2025-02-24 05:25:32
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Donald Trump has made it clear he is ‘fairly indifferent to Europe’s fate’, says CDU leader who plans to form a coalition by EasterConservatives win German election but far-right AfD doubles supportForeign leaders have congratulated Friedrich Merz on his win. The UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer wrote in a post on X:I look forward to working with the new government to deepen our already strong relationship, enhance our joint security and deliver growth for both our countries.We are more determined than ever to achieve great things together for France and Germany and work towards a strong and sovereign Europe. In this time of uncertainty, we are united to face the major challenges of the world and our continent.Europe must be able to defend itself, develop its industries, and achieve the necessary results. Europe needs shared successes, and those success will bring even greater unity to Europe.”Much like the USA, the people of Germany got tired of the no-common-sense agenda, especially on energy and immigration ... This is a great day for Germany and for the United States of America under the leadership of a gentleman names Donald J Trump.The Greens, the SPD’s coalition partner, slumped by three percentage points to 11.6%. The Left has surged to 8.8% and the liberal FDP – which triggered the early election by collapsing Olaf Scholz’s coalition – along with the far-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance failed to meet the 5% threshold required top get into parliament.The results mean Merz could form a so-called “grand coalition” with the SPD, without needing to find a third party. That would mean a future government would be more stable and less fractious than for example Scholz’s.The Social Democratic party was left reeling on the back of a historically low vote share, with outgoing chancellor, Olaf Scholz, admitting it was a “bitter result”. He said he would not be involved in any coalition talks with the CDU/CSU, with other SPD leaders expected to lead negotiations.Merz hailed “a historic election evening,” and acknowledged the responsibility and the scale of the task ahead. He said he planned to form a coalition by Easter and told party faithful that “the world out there is not waiting for us and for lengthy negotiations.”Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) called the result “historic” for her party, having doubled the number of votes from 2021. Weidel said her party remained open to coalition talks with other parties, and said excluding the AfD was the equivalent to “voter fraud”.The AfD swept all five former East German states: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. It won well over 30% of the vote in each state and as much as 38.6% in Thuringia – that’s where the AfD made history in September as the first far-right party to win a state election since the second world war.Christian Lindner, the leader of the liberal FDP whose falling out with Scholz triggered the collapse of his coalition government and paved the way for early elections, resigned after his party failed to reach the 5% threshold to re-enter parliament. In a post on X, he said would retire from active politics and said he hoped the election would bring a “new start for Germany”. Continue reading...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/feb/24/german-election-live-results-updates-2025-cdu-afd-widel