Germany’s conservative CDU has won the most votes with party leader Friedrich Merz signalling he hopes to form a government quickly.

Germany’s conservative CDU has won the most votes, with party leader Friedrich Merz signalling he hopes to form a government quickly. The far-right AfD is in second after securing its highest-ever showing.

Incumbent Chancellor Scholz of the governing SPD has acknowledged a “bitter” defeat, congratulating Merz on the results.

Here are the latest results from the federal returning officer, who oversees the elections:

Who are the major candidates and parties?

This year, 29 political parties are participating in the elections, a decrease from the 47 that contested in 2021.

The main parties are:

1. CDU/CSU – The Christian Democratic Union is led by Friedrich Merz, who is also the bloc’s chancellor candidate. The Christian Social Union, the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, is led by Markus Soder.
2. AfD – The Alternative for Germany is co-led by Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla with Weidel as the AfD’s chancellor candidate.
3. SPD – The Social Democratic Party is co-led by Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil. Olaf Scholz serves as the party’s chancellor candidate and is the incumbent chancellor.
4. Alliance 90/The Greens – It is co-led by Franziska Brantner and Felix Banaszak, and Robert Habeck is its chancellor candidate and the current vice chancellor.
5. The Left – The party is co-led by Ines Schwerdtner and Jan van Aken with Heidi Reichinnek and van Aken as the chancellor candidates.
6. BSW – The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance is led by Sahra Wagenknecht, who is also the party’s chancellor candidate.
7. FDP – The Free Democratic Party is led by Christian Lindner, who also serves as the party’s lead candidate.

What do the latest polls indicate?

The conservative CDU tops the polls with 30 percent support. The far-right AfD is predicted to win about 20 percent of the votes while the SPD, which led the previous coalition government, sits in third place with 15 percent support.

How does voting work?

German citizens will vote twice: once for a local member of parliament and second for a party. A party must receive at least 5 percent of the national vote to enter the Bundestag, the elected chamber of the bicameral parliament.

The second vote is considered the most important and is most widely reported on election night because it determines the number of seats a party will receive overall in the Bundestag and a party’s strength within a coalition government it might be part of.

Whichever party secures the most seats will nominate a candidate as chancellor, and the new Bundestag will vote. The candidate must secure an absolute majority to be sworn in as the country’s new leader.

Germany’s current distribution of seats

The Bundestag has a base of 598 seats, but it can expand, reaching 733 seats in 2021, the largest in its history. A 2023 reform now limits it to 630 seats.

What are the key issues?

A sluggish economy, immigration and the Ukraine war have been the top issues in the campaign.

Surveys suggested many voters want to pay less in taxes, but doing that will be hard. Germany has been in recession for the past two years, and its key industries are struggling to remain competitive.

Unemployment is at more than 6 percent, and the debt brake, which limits government borrowing, is also causing problems.

Who could be Germany’s next chancellor?

A coalition government will likely be formed because no one party has ever won an absolute majority. The only time a single parliamentary group secured a majority was for the parliamentary term of 1957 to 1961 when the CDU/CSU won elections in West Germany.

Whichever party secures the most votes will nominate a candidate as chancellor, and the new Bundestag will vote on the person. The candidate must secure an absolute majority to be sworn in as leader.

Here are the chancellor candidates of the top four parties:

• Merz, 69, is the frontrunner, according to the polls. He became the leader of the CDU after former Chancellor Angela Merkel stepped down in 2021.
• Weidel, 46, has co-led the anti-immigration AfD since 2017.
• Scholz, 66, from the SPD has been chancellor since December 2021.
• Habeck, 55, is the candidate representing the Greens. He is the current vice chancellor as well as economy and climate minister.

Source

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Al Jazeera and news agencies