{"id":3227,"date":"2025-02-23T18:36:46","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T19:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/?p=3227"},"modified":"2025-02-23T20:28:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T20:28:18","slug":"scholz-concedes-defeat-in-german-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/23\/scholz-concedes-defeat-in-german-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholz concedes defeat in German election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Germany\u2019s opposition conservatives have won a nationwide vote, with the right-wing AFD coming in second, exit polls show<\/strong><\/p>\n

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat on Sunday, congratulating his conservative rival Friedrich Merz, whose Christian Democratic Union\/Christian Social Union (CDU\/CSU) alliance is projected to win a snap election. Exit polls published by public broadcaster ZDF show the CDU\/CSU leading with 28.5% of the vote, while Scholz\u2019s Social Democrats (SPD) suffered a historic low of just 16.5% \u2013 their worst showing since World War II.<\/p>\n

\u201dThis is a bitter election result for the Social Democratic Party. It is also an electoral defeat,\u201d<\/em> Scholz acknowledged in his first statement after the results were released, as quoted by Reuters. Addressing his opponent, Scholz congratulated him on the outcome.<\/p>\n

Merz promised to act quickly in forming a government. \u201cTonight, we celebrate, and from tomorrow, we start working… The world out there is not waiting for us,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"AfD
Anti-immigration AFD in 2nd place in German elections \u2013 exit poll<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) also made history by finishing second with nearly 20% of the projected vote \u2013 the party\u2019s strongest national result to date. Party co-leader Alice Weidel called the outcome \u201chistoric,\u201d<\/em> declaring that AfD is \u201copen to coalition negotiations… otherwise, no real policy change will be possible in Germany.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Scholz\u2019s governing coalition, which collapsed in November after the Free Democrats (FDP) withdrew, also suffered significant losses. The Greens polled at 12%, while the FDP barely cleared the 5% threshold required to enter parliament.<\/p>\n

Analysts predict that a \u201cgrand coalition\u201d<\/em> between the CDU\/CSU and SPD \u2013 Germany\u2019s dominant centrist parties \u2013 remains the most viable path to forming a government. The two parties have shared power four times since WWII, most recently under former Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, it remains uncertain whether Scholz will play a role in any new government. Merz himself earlier ruled out cooperation within the same cabinet.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"German
Germany\u2019s Scholz sets out limits to \u2018free speech\u2019<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The CDU\/CSU has moved further to the right under Merz\u2019s leadership, particularly on migration policy, marking a departure from Merkel\u2019s more centrist approach. The election campaign was dominated by heated debates over immigration, exacerbated by a series of attacks involving migrants.<\/p>\n

In a surprise move, US Vice President J.D. Vance and tech billionaire Elon Musk openly weighed in. Vance met with Wiedel in Germany last week, and their meeting reportedly focused on the Ukraine conflict, German domestic policies, and freedom of speech, including the so-called \u2018Brandmauer\u2019, or \u201cfirewall against the right.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Musk has long criticized Scholz as a \u201cfool\u201d<\/em> and endorsed Weidel for chancellor, talking to her during a live chat. The billionaire also made a surprise appearance during an AFD election campaign event in Halle in late January, speaking publicly in support of the party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Germany\u2019s opposition conservatives have won a nationwide vote, with the right-wing AFD coming in second, exit polls show German Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat on Sunday, congratulating his conservative rival Friedrich Merz, whose Christian Democratic Union\/Christian Social Union (CDU\/CSU) alliance is projected to win a snap election. Exit polls published by public broadcaster ZDF show…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3227"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3230,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3227\/revisions\/3230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.developeternal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}