A bitter evening for the traffic light partners SPD, Greens and FDP: In the European elections, the Union leaves the competition behind, the AfD comes in second.
In the European elections in Germany, the CDU and CSU won by a wide margin. According to projections by ARD and ZDF, the AfD is also gaining ground, reaching second place. The SPD is only behind them. The Greens are in fourth place, with significant losses. The FDP remains stable, while the Left Party is falling sharply – and is being overtaken by Sahra Wagenknecht’s new BSW party. It is a setback for the traffic light coalition – all three government parties are losing voters.
According to Sunday evening’s projections, the Union increased slightly to 29.6 to 30 percent (2019: 28.9). The AfD achieved its best result to date in a European election (11) with 16.1 to 16.4 percent, although this was lower than interim poll results. The SPD dropped to 14 percent (15.8) – its worst result ever in a nationwide election. The Greens slipped to 12 to 12.4 percent (20.5). The FDP remained almost unchanged at 4.9 to 5 percent (5.4). Together, the SPD, Greens and FDP only received around 31 percent of the vote.
The Left landed at a meager 2.8 to 2.9 percent (5.5) – its worst result in European elections. The BSW party achieved 5.7 to 5.9 percent straight away. The Volt party was at 2.8 to 3 percent.
In contrast to federal and state elections, there is no threshold for the European elections in Germany, i.e. a five percent hurdle. According to projections, voter turnout is between 64 and 65 percent. In 2019, it was 61.4 percent, at which time Germany was in fifth place among the 27 EU states. For the first time, 16 and 17 year olds were allowed to vote in a European election in Germany.
Söder: Traffic light coalition de facto voted out
SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert spoke of a very bitter election result. “For us, today is a hard defeat,” he said on ARD. But there was no discussion about Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann sees this as a defeat for the traffic light coalition under Scholz. “He really has to ask himself the question when he is being plastered all over the country: is he really making politics for the people here?” he said on ZDF. “Otherwise he has to clear the way, for example with a vote of confidence.” 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.” Co-party leader Alice Weidel spoke of a “super result.”
Green Party leader 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 it together,” the co-party leader said on ARD.
Plus expected for right-wing parties
In many EU countries, including Germany, a significant increase for right-wing parties was expected. For example, polls before the election had put the AfD at more than 20 percent. However, allegations against its top candidate Maximilian Krah and the number two on the European election list, Petr Bystron, got the party into trouble. Both made headlines because of possible connections to pro-Russian networks, and in Krah’s case there are also possible connections to China.
Bystron is being investigated on suspicion of bribery and money laundering. Krah, a member of the European Parliament since 2019, has also recently received massive criticism for trivializing statements about the SS, the so-called Schutzstaffel of the National Socialists. The AfD’s federal executive board then called on Krah to stop appearing in public during the election campaign. As a result, the right-wing ID (Identity and Democracy) group in the European Parliament excluded all German AfD MPs.
Around 360 million citizens in the 27 EU states were eligible to vote, of which almost 61 million were Germans. Between Thursday and Sunday, 720 representatives for the new European Parliament were elected – depending on the country – 96 of them in Germany on the last day. Apart from the parliamentary election in India, it is the largest democratic vote in the world – and the only direct election across national borders. Around 1,400 candidates for 35 parties and other political associations ran in Germany.
Crisis-ridden years since the 2019 European elections
In the five years since the last European elections in 2019, drastic 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 resulting energy crisis, renewed strong 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.
The European elections are seen as an important mood test ahead of the three state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg in September and the federal election next year.
Von der Leyen seeks second term
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 (CDU), is seeking a second term in office. Unlike the other candidates, the former German Minister of Defense did not apply for a seat in the European Parliament.
The sister party CSU put forward its own top candidate, Manfred Weber. Weber is the leader of the EPP group in the European Parliament. In 2019, the 51-year-old was the top candidate for the post of Commission President, but did not get a majority – so von der Leyen came into the race.
Katarina Barley is the SPD’s top candidate for the second time. The 55-year-old Vice President of the European Parliament was Federal Minister of Justice, before that Minister for Family Affairs and SPD General Secretary.
Terry Reintke ran for the Greens. The 37-year-old is also chairwoman of her group in the EU Parliament. The FDP ran with Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the 66-year-old prominent defense politician.
The Left’s leading candidate is party leader Martin Schirdewan together with the non-party refugee and climate activist Carola Rackete. Schirdewan is also co-leader of the left-wing GUE/NGL group in the European Parliament.
Former Left Party member of the Bundestag Fabio De Masi and Düsseldorf’s former SPD mayor Thomas Geisel ran for Wagenknecht’s party BSW.
Local elections in these federal states
In parallel to the European elections, elections were also held at the local level in eight federal states: Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. In Thuringia, numerous district administrators and mayors were also elected in run-off elections.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
