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Germany elections: Social Democratic Party wins majority of seats

2021-09-29T15:21:38.381Z


The SPD will now begin negotiations to form the new government, a process that could take weeks, or even months.


After Merkel, "in Germany everything is new", says analyst 1:17

Berlin (CNN) -

Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD, left) won the most seats in the country's federal elections, preliminary results show, but it will be some time before the composition of the new government is known.

The SPD achieved a narrow victory over the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the conservative center-right party of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to Der Bundeswahlleiter, the office responsible for overseeing federal elections.

Olaf Scholz at the SPD headquarters.

The Der Bundeswahlleiter website said the SPD won 25.7% of the votes, followed by the CDU / CSU bloc which got 24.1%, and the Green Party with 14.8% of the votes, after from a count of Germany's 299 electoral districts.

The election ends Merkel's 16 years as chancellor, but her successor will not be decided until a coalition agreement is negotiated.

The SPD will now begin negotiations to form the new government, a process that could take weeks, or even months.

After Merkel's victory in the September 2017 elections, it took more than five months for a government to form.

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Although the preliminary count gives the SPD only a small advantage over its closest rivals, the results represent a significant improvement for the party, which obtained 20.5% of the vote in the last elections of 2017.

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As the votes were counted, party leader Olaf Scholz called the result a "great success."

"Many citizens have put their crosses next to (the logo of) the SPD because they want there to be a change of government and also because they want the next chancellor of this country to be named Olaf Scholz," he said.

The 63-year-old politician has served as German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister in Merkel's grand coalition government since 2018, earning him greater visibility as he navigated Germany's economic response to the pandemic.

Who is Angela Merkel?

3:16

"Now we will wait for the final result, but then we will get down to work. Thank you!" Said Scholz.

Loud applause and cheers from party supporters interrupted him as he spoke.

Robin Fugmann, 20, a fervent Scholz supporter, told CNN he was delighted with the results.

"It's really an amazing result, people believe in Olaf Scholz, people believe that Armin Laschet can't really lead this country," he said.

"So we really have a mandate to lead a new government, I hope we do. And first of all, we are going to celebrate because this is a really amazing result."

CDU leader: The party 'cannot be happy'

In the early hours of the night, the atmosphere at the CDU headquarters was dejected when the first exit polls emerged.

These suggested that the CDU, with its sister party, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, were seeing the worst result in the alliance's history.

Armin laschet

The party "cannot be satisfied with this result," CDU leader Armin Laschet told supporters, although he noted that the final result was unclear.

"We can foresee that there could be a government with three parties," he said.

And he added that the party "would do everything possible to try to build a coalition."

Laschet added that the CDU had received "a mandate against a left-wing government."

The party had campaigned with a message of stability for the country after Merkel, seen as a steady pair of hands for the past nearly 16 years, said she would no longer participate in the elections.

But now she seems to be coming to terms with what she called a bitter night of loss.

"When we see how we lost compared to the last election, it is bitter for us," CDU general secretary Paul Ziemiak told CNN in an interview at party headquarters.

"But it is also clear that after the numbers there is still no clear vision of who is ahead and exactly how," he said.

"The question is, who can form a stable government, form a coalition for the future, for this country? We have many problems to address (climate protection, innovation), but we also have to guarantee stability and social security, which I think a coalition of the CDU / CSU, the Greens and the FDP could do well, and that is what we will talk about in the next few days. "

Peter Altmaier of the CDU, who has served as federal minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, told CNN that the election result "was by no means a landslide victory for the opposition parties" and showed "a lot of confidence." in which the CDU can govern.

Reflecting on the elections, he added: "The clear message for all people around the world is that democracy in Germany is quite stable, this was not the day of extremist parties, neither of the left, nor of the right, it was the day of the conventional parties from the center of our democracy ”.

Deborah Piraba, a 27-year-old law student and member of the Christian Democratic Union Youth, told CNN at the CDU headquarters that the results were "disappointing."

"We have to consider that we are dating Angela Merkel for 16 years, of whom I am a huge fan. I am sad that she is leaving office," he said.

"We called her Mutti (mom), she knew how to talk to people and she has the connection with people and she has done a lot for Germany. This made her so special compared to other politicians. I will also miss her sense of humor."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel received applause from top CDU members on Sunday.

The Greens 'wanted more'

Meanwhile, the crowd at the Green Party headquarters in Berlin cheered as the first exit polls were read.

Subsequently, the preliminary results gave the party 14.8% of the votes.

"We have led a campaign like we have never experienced before in this country, twenty-four hours a day, until last night, the last second," said Los Verdes leader Annalena Baerbock as she thanked the party's supporters.

Environmental and economic concerns emerged as key themes in the campaign, with the former fueled by the deadly floods that devastated parts of Germany this summer.

Baerbock attributed the success of his party to new and young voters.

"This momentum from the markets, from so many [people] who joined our party in recent years, has led to this best all-time result," he said.

But, Baerbock added, the party had "wanted more" and failed to do better in part because of mistakes made by her during the season.

AfD's top chancellor candidate Alice Weidel put on a brave face after projected election results showed support for the far-right party falling 2.6% since 2017.

"We are in double digits, we have been able to assert ourselves," he said, according to Reuters.

"This claim that we would leave parliament after a legislative term has completely failed and we are very, very happy."

Forest that inspired the Brothers Grimm is in crisis 3:50

Analyst: 'Strict order' to bring the parties together

The outgoing government remains in office as the acting government until it is replaced by a new government.

Merkel, 67, will retire and the new chancellor will take the reins.

Even if the end result changes the distribution of votes, the basic fact is that "after 16 years in power, almost 76% of Germans have not voted" for Merkel's party, said CNN commentator Dominic Thomas.

Neither the CDU nor the SPD will have a real chance to create a coalition, he added.

"If it is the SPD that is leading the way, the only way forward will be to talk to three parties that will probably involve the Greens and the FDP. And it is quite a difficult task trying to bring them all together," he said.

Exit polls indicate a move to the center and center left, he added, reflecting the concerns of a younger electorate.

"It is clear that the momentum is moving more towards issues that concern social welfare, green politics," said Thomas.

Frederik Pleitgen, Salma Abdelaziz, Nadine Schmidt and Stephanie Halasz reported from Berlin and Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London.

Nina Avramova, Claudia Otto, Inke Kappeler, Sebastian Shukla, and Aditi Sangal contributed to this report.

Elections

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-09-29

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