Union and AfD before SPD, Greens and FDP

According to the forecast for the European elections in Germany, the CDU and CSU unions will win the elections by a large margin. This is evident from the forecast of the election research study. This brings the Union to 30 percent (+1.1). The SPD (14 percent; -1.8) and the Greens (12.5 percent; -8), on the other hand, should be behind the AfD (16 percent, +5). In the last election polls the traffic light partners were still equal: just before right.

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The third party in government, the FDP, follows with 5 percent (-0.4). This puts the Liberals behind the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which is predicted to get 6 percent (+6) in the first elections. The Left gained 3 percent (-2.5), as did Volt (+2.3). The others amount to 10.5 percent (-1.7).

According to the forecast, turnout in Germany was 66 percent.

The graph for the forecast in Germany:

The AfD is cheering, the SPD is disappointed

The first figures caused cheers among the AfD. Party leader Tino Chrupalla described his party’s predicted result as ‘historic’. “We achieved a good result and I think it will only get better as the evening progresses. So we will not give away second place today,” said Chrupalla. According to initial forecasts, the AfD could increase the number of votes from 11 to 16 to 16.5 percent compared to the 2019 European elections. AfD co-leader Alice Weidel spoke of a “super result”.

On the other hand, there are long faces in the Chancellor’s party. SPD Secretary General Kevin Kühnert spoke of “a very bitter election result”. “It is a heavy defeat for us today,” Kühnert said to ARD on Sunday evening. However, Kühnert emphasized that there is no discussion possible about the person of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). The SPD had posters for Scholz during the election campaign. If he had not portrayed him as a central figure in Europe, he would have missed the subject of the elections. It would be very bad form to blame one person for the SPD’s disastrous performance. “We win together and we lose together.” Scapegoats are not wanted in the SPD.

Disappointment also among the Greens. “That is not the claim we entered these elections with, and we will get through it together,” the co-party leader said on ARD, referring to her party’s vote loss. The situation today is completely different from the previous European elections in 2019, Lang explains. People are restless. The issue of war and peace was extremely important to voters this time. A change of course regarding the war in Ukraine cannot now be expected from her party, according to Lang, because if Russian President Vladimir Putin were to win this war, the future would also be less peaceful in Germany.

European elections: 720 mandates at stake

About 65 million citizens in the Federal Republic were called upon to vote for the European Parliament. In addition to Germany, elections are also being held in twenty other EU countries today. In other countries such as the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovakia, citizens have already cast their votes. Across the EU, around 360 million people are eligible to vote.

In total there are mandates for 720 parliamentarians, of which 96 are from Germany. Apart from India’s parliamentary elections, the European elections are the largest democratic vote in the world – and the only direct elections across national borders. About 1,400 candidates for 35 parties and other political associations took part in the elections in Germany.

with dpa