After the general election, the struggle to form a government begins. Angela Merkel’s former constituency goes to the SPD. All developments in the live blog.
6:58 am
Klingbeil: “Union of big losers this election night”
SPD general secretary Lars Klingbeil sees the clear losers in the election in the CDU and CSU with Union top candidate Armin Laschet. in the ARD morning magazine Klingbeil made it clear that, from his point of view, this did not result in any government mandate for the Union. At the same time, he pointed out that the SPD had “done some things right”: “We nominated the candidate for chancellor early on, we analyzed previous election campaigns and avoided mistakes.” There was an “incredible unity” in the SPD leadership. All of this has set the Social Democrats apart from a union “which was actually in dispute mode the whole time.”
06:50 am
FDP: “New chapter for party history in Germany”
The FDP politician Konstantin Kuhle sees the result of the federal election as a decisive turning point in the political structure of the Federal Republic. “We see that yesterday a new chapter began for the party system in Germany: The Greens and the FDP reach together as the Union or the SPD,” said Kuhle in the ARD morning magazine. That is why it makes sense for his party to consider together with the Greens “what form of modernization is possible for the country”.
FDP leader Lindner had already suggested yesterday that the Liberals and the Greens sit down together to find out what intersections and points of dispute exist before both parties hold exploratory talks with the SPD or the Union.
06:31 am
New Bundestag with record size
With 735 members, the 20th German Bundestag will be the largest parliament in the history of the Federal Republic. The number of seats results from the preliminary official final result announced by the Federal Returning Officer. So far there have been 709 parliamentarians in the Bundestag; that was the highest number of members of the Bundestag to date.
6:25 am
The struggle to form a government begins
After the general election, a tough struggle to form a government is emerging. According to the preliminary official result, the SPD has become the strongest force and wants to appoint Olaf Scholz as the next chancellor. Despite its historic defeat, the Union also claims to lead the government. In mathematical terms, the only possible two-party alliance would be a new grand coalition, which neither the SPD nor the Union want. That is why there is likely to be a three-way alliance in the federal government for the first time since the 1950s. Both the SPD and the Union rely on an alliance with the Greens and the FDP. The courtship for potential partners has already begun. First of all, the party committees will discuss the outcome of the election this Monday.
According to the preliminary official final result, the SPD improves to 25.7 percent (2017: 20.5 percent). The CDU / CSU falls to 24.1 percent (32.9). The Greens climb with Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock to 14.8 percent (8.9). The FDP increases to 11.5 percent (10.7). The AfD, so far the third strongest force, has 10.3 percent (12.6), but will be the strongest force in Thuringia and Saxony. The left slips to 4.9 percent (9.2). However, since she defends three of her last five direct mandates, according to the basic mandate clause, she can still remain in the Bundestag according to her second vote result.
6:25 am
SPD wins parliamentary elections in Berlin
The SPD won the parliamentary elections in Berlin. This was announced by the state election management. The party with top candidate Franziska Giffey reached 21.4 percent on Sunday after counting all voting districts and ended up ahead of the Greens, who came to 18.9 percent. According to the regional election committee, the CDU achieved 18.1 percent, the Left 14.0 percent, the AfD reached 8.0 percent, and the FDP 7.1 percent. As before, Berlin can only be governed by a three-party alliance in the future.
6:25 am
SPD candidate wins in Merkel’s constituency
Anna Kassautzki (SPD) won the direct mandate in Angela Merkel’s former constituency. “It fills me with humility,” says the 27-year-old young politician to the news portal watson about her new mandate in the constituency of Vorpommern-Rügen – Vorpommern-Greifswald I. The direct mandate is not only “a great legacy, but also about the people in the Constituency “. She wants to make “good politics”.