German CDU/CSU triumphs in European elections, SPD faces bitter setback

According to exit poll results conducted by the Infratest Dimap Institute, the CDU/CSU won the European Parliamentary elections in Germany, receiving 30% of the votes. In second place was the populist-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which received 16% of the votes.

The election results are a yellow card for the ruling coalition of SPD, the Greens, and the liberal FDP. According to the first forecasts, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) obtained 14% of the votes, while the Greens received 12%. The third party of the German coalition, the liberal FDP, received 5%.

The left-wing party Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), founded earlier this year, secured 6%, while the Left Party received only 3%.

Voter turnout in Germany was 64%.

The European Parliament has 96 MEPs from Germany. According to forecasts, the CDU can count on 23 seats, while its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, can expect six. The Social Democrats may get 14 seats, the Greens 12, and the FDP 5.

The Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht may get six seats in the EP, and the Left Party has a chance for three seats.

The remaining seats will be divided among small groups participating in the European elections and receiving votes. In the case of European elections in Germany, the 5-percent electoral threshold does not apply.

Compared to the European elections in 2019, the German Greens suffered the most significant losses – a reduction of 8 percentage points, and the Left Party – a decrease of 3 points. The SPD lost 2 percentage points, and the FDP – 1 point. The Bavarian CSU also had a slightly worse result than five years ago (minus 0 points).

The AfD gained the most – 5 percentage points. The CDU also improved slightly (plus 1 point).

The ruling SPD in Germany does not hide its disappointment with the election results. "This is a bitter result for us. I am disappointed," admitted SPD's leading candidate Katarina Barley during the election evening.

SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert spoke of a "severe defeat" and announced a thorough analysis of the causes of the weak voter mobilization. He believes, however, that it was the right move to have Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose image appeared on the party's posters, as the face of the SPD's election campaign.

Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition CDU, Friedrich Merz, stated that "the election result is a defeat," as well as the last warning for the ruling coalition and especially – for Chancellor Olaf Scholz. "It cannot continue as it has in the last two and a half years," he said during the election evening. "Now we really need to adjust the course, which is in our country's interest. And I call on the government to do this in the coming days," added the CDU leader.

For the Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU leader, Markus Söder, the coalition's weak result is de facto the beginning of its end. He emphasized that the SPD, the Greens, and the FDP lost a quarter of their voters, and their alliance has "at most another year." "Then this apparition must disappear," he added.

German Christian Democrats expect that their leading candidate, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, will remain in office for another five-year term. However, for this to be possible, she must receive the support of Olaf Scholz's German government.

The scandals did not significantly harm the right-wing populist AfD revealed in recent months, including around its leading candidate, Maximilian Krah, whose assistant was arrested for espionage for China. "After a bumpy start to the election campaign, we performed exceptionally well in the final stretch," AfD co-chair Alice Weidel told the media. She indicated that the AfD is the strongest force in eastern Germany. This is partly because "people have become more critical of Europe," Alice Weidel assessed.

The AfD is the leading political force in the eastern federal states of Germany. According to forecasts, it received 27% of the votes, 7 percentage points more than the second-place CDU.

About 65 million people were eligible to vote in Germany, including about 1.4 million voters aged 16 and 17, who could participate in the elections for the first time after the change in the voting age.

Sunday was the last day of the European Parliamentary elections. Across the EU, over 360 million citizens were eligible to vote. They elected 720 MEPs for a five-year term.