Germany's conservatives win power amid far-right gains

German opposition leader Friedrich Merz said his priority was to 'strengthen Europe as quickly as possible, so that we achieve independence from the US'

(Image credit: Ina Fassbender / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

Germany's center-right Christian Democrats/Christian Social Union bloc won a 28.5% plurality in Sunday's national election, making CDU leader Friedrich Merz the presumptive next chancellor. The election was held seven months early due to the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition in November. Scholz's Social Democrats earned just 16.4% of the vote, while the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party jumped to second place with 20.8%, nearly double its previous high.

Who said what

The CDU's "lackluster victory" capped a campaign marked by "widespread discontent and not much enthusiasm for any of the candidates," The Associated Press said. The dominant themes were "worries about the yearslong stagnation of Europe's biggest economy and pressure to curb migration." Voter turnout was 83%, the highest since East and West German reunified in 1990.

Merz said his first priority was to "create a functioning government in Germany as quickly as possible." Scholz took responsibility for the Social Democrats' "bitter election result" and said he would not hold a ministerial role in a grand coalition government with the CDU, considered the most likely outcome of the election.

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President Donald Trump congratulated the "conservative party in Germany" for its victory, and in a "characteristically bizarre manner," Politico said, he also "claimed the conservative victory was part of his own success, somehow." Vice President J.D. Vance and top ally Elon Musk had thrown their support behind the AfD. Merz criticized that "intervention from Washington" and said his "absolute priority" was to "strengthen Europe as quickly as possible, so that we achieve independence from the U.S." That's something "I never thought I would have to say," he added, "but after Donald Trump's statements" in recent weeks it is "clear that the Americans, at least this part of the Americans, this administration, are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe."

What next?

Merz, 69, reiterated that the AfD will not be part of his government, retaining the "firewall" between Germany's political mainstream and a far-right party that "routinely flirts with Nazi slogans and whose members have diminished the Holocaust," The New York Times said. AfD leader Alice Weidel said if Merz did not include her party, his government would not last, he would be an "interim chancellor" and in the next election, "we'll come first."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.