CDU/CSU wins European elections in Germany – AfD number two
Published: Sunday, Jun 9th 2024, 20:10
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The CDU and CSU have won the European elections in Germany by a large margin. According to projections by ARD and ZDF, the right-wing populist AfD has made strong gains and is in second place - followed only by the SPD.
The Greens are in fourth place with heavy losses. The FDP loses slightly, while the Left Party drops sharply - and is overtaken by Sahra Wagenknecht's new party BSW. It is a setback for the "traffic light" coalition. Just over a year before the next general election, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's (SPD) alliance has less than a third of the vote.
According to the projections from Sunday evening, the CDU/CSU increased slightly to 30% (2019: 28.9). The AfD achieved its best result to date in a nationwide vote with 16.2% to 16.4% (2019: 11%) - although this was lower than the interim poll results.
Scholz's SPD plummets to 13.9 to 14 percent (15.8) - its worst result ever in a nationwide election. The Greens fall to 12 to 12.2 percent (20.5). The FDP loses only slightly, coming in at 4.8 to 4.9 percent (5.4).
The Left Party landed a meagre 2.7 to 2.8 percent (5.5) - its worst result in European elections. The left-wing populist party BSW - a split-off from the Left - achieved 5.7 to 6.1 percent from a standing start. The Volt party is at 2.6 to 3 percent.
In contrast to federal and state elections, the European elections in Germany do not have a threshold clause, i.e. a five percent hurdle. According to projections, voter turnout is 65%. In 2019, it was 61.4%, putting Germany in fifth place among the 27 EU member states. For the first time, 16 and 17-year-olds were also allowed to vote in a European election in Germany.
Söder: traffic light de facto voted out
SPD leader Lars Klingbeil described the election result as a "bitter defeat". "There is nothing to gloss over," he said at SPD headquarters in Berlin. They will now work through how this result could have come about. "I believe that things have to change.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz called on the federal government to correct its course in the coming days. This was urgently necessary in the interests of the country. The election evening was now "really the last warning" for the "Ampel" before the Bundestag elections next year. The coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP was damaging Germany. This applies to domestic policy, for example with the decisions on migration issues, but also to economic policy. CSU leader Markus Söder said: "The traffic light coalition has de facto been voted out by the citizens."
AfD leader Tino Chrupalla called his party's result "historic". "I hear we are now the strongest force in the East in this election, there is no greater tailwind," he told the German Press Agency in Berlin with a view to the upcoming state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in September.
Green Party Chairwoman Ricarda Lang reacted with disappointment to her party's loss of votes. "That is not the claim we went into this election with, and we will work through this together," said the co-leader of the party on ARD.
BSW party founder Wagenknecht expressed her happiness and relief at the performance of her alliance. There was "great potential", which she wanted to build on in subsequent elections. Wagenknecht reiterated that she believes a diplomatic initiative is necessary in Russia's war against Ukraine. "Many people are worried that the war will also come to us."
Plus expected for right-wing parties
In many EU countries, a significant increase for right-wing parties had been expected. Pre-election polls had put the AfD at more than 20 percent at one point. However, accusations against its lead candidate Maximilian Krah and the number two on the European election list, Petr Bystron, caused difficulties for the party. Both hit the headlines due to possible links to pro-Russian networks; in Krah's case, there are also possible links to China.
Bystron is under investigation on initial suspicion of bribery and money laundering. Krah, who has been a member of the European Parliament since 2019, also recently received massive criticism for trivializing statements about the SS, the so-called Schutzstaffel of the National Socialists. The AfD's federal executive committee subsequently called on Krah to no longer appear in public during the election campaign. As a consequence, the right-wing ID (Identity and Democracy) group in the European Parliament expelled all German AfD MPs.
Around 360 million citizens were eligible to vote in the 27 EU member states, including almost 61 million Germans. From Thursday to Sunday - depending on the country - 720 representatives were elected to the new European Parliament, 96 of them in Germany on the last day. Apart from the parliamentary elections in India, this is the largest democratic vote in the world - and the only direct election across national borders.
Crisis-ridden years since the 2019 European elections
In the five years since the last European elections in 2019, major crises have kept the EU on tenterhooks: a pandemic with tens of thousands of deaths and a subsequent economic crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the ensuing energy crisis, a renewed high level of migration to Europe and, most recently, the Gaza war and weather disasters such as droughts and floods as a result of the worsening climate crisis.
Commission President von der Leyen seeks second term of office
After the election, most MEPs join one of the political groups in the EU Parliament, i.e. the Christian Democratic EPP, the Social Democrats, the Liberals, the Left, the Greens or one of the two right-wing groups.
One of the first tasks of the new Parliament is to confirm the new EU Commission, the executive branch of the Union. The current Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a German Christian Democrat, is seeking a second term in office. Unlike the other candidates, the former German defense minister did not apply for a seat in the European Parliament.
Parallel to the European elections, elections were also held at municipal level in eight federal states in Germany: Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. In Thuringia, numerous district councillors and mayors were also decided in run-off elections.
©Keystone/SDA
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