Mick Hume
Sunday’s German elections showed the likely future direction of European politics. An uncertain future in which the old right and left parties of the establishment are struggling to hold their ground, and hold onto power, in the face of a growing populist revolt.
And if the establishment forces cannot contain the revolt in Germany, the powerful heart of the European Union, what chance will they have elsewhere?
When it became clear that his party had topped the polls, Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Germany’s next chancellor, tried to declare an “historic” victory. The results did indeed make history, though not in the way that Merz claimed.
The CDU, with its ally the Christian Social Union (CSU), won just 28.5% of the vote—the Christian Democrats’ second-worst result in a modern general election, up only 4% on its lowest-ever result last time. The ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) under Olaf Scholz received 16.4% of the vote—its worst-ever result.
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