By Henry Srebrnik, [Moncton, NB] Times & Transcript
On Sept. 26, Germans went to the polls in the country’s first federal election of the post Angela Merkel era.
A major question for voters was how the new chancellor would fare on the international stage and what that means for Germany’s role in the world. Immigration and social justice were also key campaign issues.
Rising climate awareness, the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and how to deal with its economic effects played a significant role as well.
The Social Democrats (SPD) and their candidate, outgoing Finance Minister Olaf Scholz in the Merkel coalition, have turned their fortunes around.
The SPD gained 25.7 per cent of the vote, good for 206 seats, a gain of 53, with the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) coming in at 24.1 per cent, which gave them 196 deputies, down 50.
They were followed by the Greens at 14.8 per cent and 118 seats, a big gain of 51; the Free Democratic Party (FDP) at 11.5 per cent and 92 seats, up 12; and the right-wing Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) at 10.3 per cent and 83 seats, down 11.
The Left Party at 4.9 per cent percent and 39 wins suffered a loss of almost half its seats. Because it won three constituency seats, it kept its 36 list seats as well, despite being below the five per cent threshold in its overall vote.
“The voters have decided that the Social Democratic party has gained, and this is a great success,” remarked Scholz. He promised a “good, pragmatic government for Germany.” He highlighted his experience during the COVID-19 crisis to underline his credentials as the guarantor of the nation’s prosperity.
On the other hand, the CDU/CSU candidate Armin Laschet, led the party to the worst result in its history. Merkel had won four straight victories, but this marks the end of a 16-year run for the Christian Democrats.
Annalena Baerbock was the Green Party’s candidate for chancellor. She was keen to present herself as a credible leader and backed multilateralism in defence and security. She also attacked the former CDU-SPD coalition government over its record on climate protection.
The centrist FDP, led by Christian Lindner, saw the outcome as a desire for a moderate coalition government. The pro-free market party advocates lower taxes, more civil liberties, and cutting back the welfare state.
The AfD chose two anti-immigration hard-liners, Alice Weidel, and Tino Chrupalla, to lead it into this election. It maintained its base in the deindustrialized parts of the old East Germany.
The AfD looks skeptically on the European Union, doubts the ability of non-white refugees and economic migrants to integrate, and disavows urban identity politics.
The Left Party’s voter base is also traditionally East German, working class and elderly. Former Communists, they campaigned against welfare cuts and for strict controls of the banking sector. Led by Janine Wissler, it was the only party demanding a dissolution of NATO.
When Germans vote for their federal government, they cast two votes, one directly for their local member of the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, and a second for a political party and its list of candidates.
This mixed-member proportional system tries to combine the best of both worlds, with individual constituency deputies but with parties having their overall representation based on their national vote as well.
Germany has 299 electoral districts. This means that the Bundestag has 598 seats, half from the ridings and half from party lists.
But if a party wins more constituency seats than it’s entitled to if based just on its share of second vote results, it is allowed to keep these so-called “overhang” seats. No other parties lose seats as a result, so this Bundestag will now consist of 735 members.
A small party won one constituency seat, and 8.7 per cent of the list vote went to parties failing to make the threshold.
Scholz will now probably try to form a “traffic light coalition,” so called because the traditional colours of the three parties involved, the SPD, the Free Democrats and the Greens, are red, yellow and green. But this may take weeks.
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