Germany will hold a highly anticipated election on Sunday, February 23. This election will produce a new chancellor and a new government, which will have an impact on the domestic and foreign policies of the European Union’s largest economy in the coming years.
At the end of last year, the ruling coalition led by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz collapsed due to disagreements, prompting an early election in Germany.
Germany is the largest economy among the 27 EU member states, with the highest population in the EU and a key member of NATO. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine by Russia in 2022, Germany has become the second-largest arms supplier to Ukraine after the United States.
Here are four things you need to know about this election:
On Sunday, German voters will go to the polls to elect a new federal parliament. The new parliament will determine how Germany will be governed in the next four years.
Polling stations will open at 8 a.m. on Sunday and close at 6 p.m. German voters can also vote by mail, but their ballots must be received at the polling station before it closes to be included in the count.
Vote counting will begin immediately after the polls close. Exit poll results will also be released gradually. The overall election results should be clear quickly on election night, but the final official results are expected to be announced earlier on Monday.
There are four candidates competing to become Germany’s next leader: incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), Union Party (CDU/CSU) candidate Friedrich Merz, current Vice Chancellor and Green Party member Robert Habeck, and right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) member Alice Weidel.
According to the latest pre-election polls released by Wahlrecht.de/RND on Saturday, the Union Party (CDU/CSU) leads with 29.7% of support, followed by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 20.6% support. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) has a support rate of 15.5%, ranking third, and the Green Party ranks fourth with 12.9% support.
The German Federal Parliament has a total of 630 seats. In this country of 84 million population, at least 59.2 million people are eligible to vote.
The German Chancellor is not elected directly by voters but by the 630 members of the Federal Parliament.
Twenty-nine parties are participating in the election, but between 5 to 8 parties are likely to gain enough votes to win seats in the parliament.
In November last year, Scholz’s three-party coalition collapsed over ongoing disputes on how to revive the struggling economy, leading to the early election, seven months ahead of schedule. One of the most urgent tasks for the new government will be to find a solution to this issue.
Another challenge will be to further reduce irregular immigration, which has been a top issue in the campaign.
Union Party candidate Merz has stated that if he is successful, he hopes to form a new government by mid-April.
(The article referenced reports from the Associated Press.)