Germans will struggle to find an era when their political landscape was as fragmented as they were days before Sunday’s federal election.
For the first time since World War II, two traditional political locomotives from Germany are set to win less than half of the national vote.
The Social Democrats (SPD) on the left of the Domination Center, which hopes to fall from their four-year term since the war, votes at an embarrassing 16% after the war.
For 51 years of the past 75 years, the once central central Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has taken the lead, but about 30% has declined, falling below the weakest victory ever . It’s far from 2017 and the victory in Cold War elections.
The rise of small political parties
The ruling Social Democrats called for election after losing their coalition partner last fall, and voted confidently in Congress last December.
However, the timing of Germany’s political upheavals is hardly worse.
Many Europe is calling for a redesign of the continent’s security structure, as President Donald Trump’s administration offers Russian concessions in exchange for a quick end to the Ukrainian war, and many in Europe are calling for a redesign of the continent’s security structure, and powerful governments have defence and diplomacy It calls for important policy decisions to be made.
More than half of German votes go to small parties on the left and right. Lion’s share – about 20% – goes to Germany (AFD) far-right alternative, a party that promises to expel the euro, take home the German mark, reverse the transition to clean energy and abandon immigrants is. Take Germany entirely out of the European Union.
“People say it’s like a last chance for a liberal Democrat and that they are making sure the next government is a functional government that produces results,” says a retired German diplomat. Christian Shuraga told Al Jazeera.
“The next government must prove that it can do that, especially with regard to immigration,” Shuraga said. “If they fail like the last government, people will say this is the basis for electing AFD.”
CDUs and SPDs decrease
In its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, CDU and SPD took about 90% of the popularity poll, with little room for others.
It began to change in the late 1990s as the political landscape of Germany became more multiplicity. Left Green was founded in 1993, with the Left (Die Linke) in 2007 and AFD in 2013.
“if [the CDU] Jens Bastian, an economist at the German Institute of International Security, added to Al Jazeera that it was even more disastrous for the SPD.
“Only those who consider 30% of them to be successful are still there. For SPD, they will succeed when they turn 20.”
Why are ballet immigrants?
Immigration has quickly become the number one issue during the election campaign due to a series of deadly attacks committed by foreigners in the past few months.
The Saudi Arabian National Court killed six people and injured 200 people last December when ploughing rental SUVs to pedestrians at the Christmas market in Magdeburg town.
Last month, on January 22, a knife-wielding Afghan man killed a 2-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man who were trying to protect him in a park in Asshafiburg near Frankfurt.
Last week, on February 13, another Afghan asylum seeker killed a 37-year-old woman and her 2-year-old daughter, plowing her car into a trade union protest march in Munich.
These previous attacks inflamed German digging against immigrants who were not eligible to stay in Germany but not deported or integrated with German society and values.
The AFD openly calls for a large number of immigrants, including legal residents and citizens, to be deported, as the Trump administration said it will do in the United States.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz has already legally delayed or stopped unifying migrant families across the country, calling for greater border control and increasing police powers and arresting people.
The SPD and Greens say they refuse to work with Meltz on this agenda and reach the far right hand.
What about the economy and unemployment?
Germans also recognize that long-standing investments, particularly infrastructure collapse after railways and bridges, but relax constitutional requirements for a balanced budget, leading to uncontrolled spending. I’m wary of this.
Some observers believe that German society is not prepared for difficult economic decisions in the future.
“Unions demand an 8% increase in salary and three days of leave in a country where workers are already taking six weeks off a year,” Shuraga said. “This doesn’t reflect the reality of the day and people don’t accept it.”
SPD Prime Minister Olaf Scholz said he is in favor of relaxing fiscal rules to spend more on stimulating and defending the economy, but Merz is reluctant to borrow more and raise taxes. It showed that there is.
The Ukrainian War has raised the energy costs of Germany everywhere in Europe and caused inflation, but has particularly severely damaged the German economic foundations of manufacturing and industry.
Germany’s economy is expected to sign 0.5% in 2025, the German Chamber of Commerce marks its third annual shrinkage, the longest recession since the war. “This is a turning point and emphasizes the need for sharp action,” says Helenamel Nikov, managing director of the Chamber of Commerce.
It had a knock-on effect. This month, the VDP Bankers Association estimated that real estate prices fell 5.4% last year, closing the four-year decline.
A recent survey found that 70% of Germans were worried about the cost of living, fearing that similar margins would be even lower.
The unemployment rate is low at 3.2%, but new jobs stagnated in December, with the latest federal figures revealed, with German industrial production falling by 2.4% in December compared to November, and forecasts It’s quadrupled.
“Politicians aren’t telling the truth about the number of challenges going forward,” Shuraga said. “Scholtz is reassuring voters that their socioeconomic status will not change. Meltz tells people that there’s no need to significantly raise the brakes on debt, but even so, we’re all in one way or another. deal with spending.
What is the result?
Germany has a parliamentary system. This means that a party or coalition of a party will take power by holding most of the 630 seats in the regiment.
A coalition could be needed as no party is expected to vote enough to win the majority of the 616 seats and win the rules on its own.
The Prime Minister’s imitation Meltz said he hopes to choose to work with one of the three strong runner-ups. He will be responsible for the collapse of the Social Democrats tied up with free Democrats and Green in 2021.
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