Germany’s centrist politicians are losing votes to the far right and the far left. They are losing faith in America, their longtime friend and protector. And they are rapidly losing what could be their best chance to address both those problems at once. The German government in waiting, led by the likely next chancellor, Friedrich…
Three and a half decades after reunification, a line runs through Germany where the Iron Curtain once stood. Instead of barbed wires and dogs, that line now divides Germans by measures like income and unemployment — and increasingly by the willingness to vote for extremist parties. If East Germany were still its own country, the…
How the 630 seats will be distributed Germany’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) won Sunday’s election as voters rebuked the nation’s left-leaning government for its handling of the economy and immigration. Provisional results by party Party Votes Pct. Seats CDU/CSU 14,158,432 28.52 208 AfD 10,327,148 20.80 152 SPD 8,148,284 16.41 120 Greens 5,761,476 11.61 85 Die…
Germans voted for a change of leadership on Sunday, handing the most votes in a parliamentary election to centrist conservatives, with the far right in second, and rebuking the nation’s left-leaning government for its handling of the economy and immigration. Early returns and exit polls almost certainly mean the country’s next chancellor will be Friedrich…
Germans voted for a change of leadership on Sunday, handing the most votes in a parliamentary election to centrist conservatives, with the far right in second, and rebuking the nation’s left-leaning government for its handling of the economy and immigration. Early returns and exit polls almost certainly mean the country’s next chancellor will be Friedrich…
Friedrich Merz, the man favored by early exit polls to be Germany’s next chancellor after elections on Sunday, is a conservative businessman who has never been a minister and was forced out of government years ago in a power struggle with Angela Merkel. The leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, Mr. Merz earned his…
When Vice President JD Vance criticized his German hosts last week for sidelining far-right parties, he did not mention by name the Alternative for Germany, known as the AfD. But soon after his speech at the Munich Security Conference, in which he stunned the room by comparing democracy in today’s Europe to Soviet-era totalitarianism, Mr….
Germans vote on Sunday in a rare snap election that has taken on outsized importance as the new Trump administration threatens European countries with tariffs, cuts them out of negotiations over Ukraine, and embraces an authoritarian Russia. The election for Parliament was called after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular and long-troubled three-party government collapsed in November….
A month ago, no one would have ever mistaken Germany’s often taciturn chancellor for an aggressive political campaigner. But prowling the stage in a dark suit and open shirt with a microphone in hand, Olaf Scholz certainly looked like one on Friday night. At a nearly euphoric rally for someone trailing in the polls, Mr….
In the final days of Germany’s abbreviated election campaign, the task facing its next chancellor has snapped into focus. It appears far more existential, for the country and for all of Europe, than almost anyone initially imagined. Germany’s coalition government came apart just a day after the U.S. presidential election last November. As a result,…