"The 2025 german election was one of the most important elections ever, for Germany, and the world," -- Elias yuasa, 8th Grade
A few weeks ago one of the most crucial elections in the world occurred. Depending on the outcome, it would either ruin the country or save it. That’s right, the German election took place on February 23, and here’s what happened. This election was crucial to the future of Germany, with it being an early election after the abrupt end of the previous coalition. Depending on what happens after this, Germany could either come back as one of the biggest countries in the world or fall even deeper into economic turmoil.
Before we talk about the election we should first understand how the German election works. When a German voter fills out their ballot, they vote on two things; the first to vote for who they want to lead their chosen constituency, and the second for what political party they want in the Bundestag (the German federal parliament). After all the votes are counted, parties who get less than 5% of the party vote are eliminated, with minor exceptions for parties representing minorities or parties with winning candidates in the first constituency, according to the DW. The 630 seats of the Bundestag are assigned and the winning party’s leader (traditionally) becomes the head of Germany's federal government, commonly known as a Chancellor.
If a party does not win an outright majority of seats, a coalition is formed. A coalition is traditionally formed with the winning party and one or two other parties to have a majority of the seats in the Bundestag. “For the last many years Germany has had two-party governments and sometimes three-party governments,” says Marianne Bashir, a former citizen of Germany currently living in Arizona. “This has become a necessity due to the many smaller political parties in Germany.” There hasn’t been a one-party government for some time. “The present-day two-party government has become the standard,” Bashir continues.
In the results of the election, the center-right parties commonly known as The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and their sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) won with Friedrich Merz as their leader, making him likely to be next Chancellor according to AP News. However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz will stay in power untill the next government is formed, according to the BBC, as Merz is currently deciding which other parties he will form a coalition with. For a two-party coalition, he can choose either the AfD (The Alternative for Germany, a far right party that’s been known to be extremist and Nazi-like) or the SPD (The Social Democratic Party of Germany, a center-left party that’s one of Germany’s oldest parties that has recently lost some of its support). However, according to NBC News, he has ruled out a coalition with the AfD. “The AfD’s policies will bring change, but not the right kind of change,” says Aphrodite Avidon, the Telegraph’s Political Correspondent. “I think that a coalition between the SPD and the CDU could be beneficial to Germany's economy and help them progress with their policies,” Avidon continues. “With Merz ruling out the AfD, I think we’ll get a Grand Coalition, with the SPD and CDU.
A few weeks ago one of the most crucial elections in the world occurred. Depending on the outcome, it would either ruin the country or save it. That’s right, the German election took place on February 23, and here’s what happened. This election was crucial to the future of Germany, with it being an early election after the abrupt end of the previous coalition. Depending on what happens after this, Germany could either come back as one of the biggest countries in the world or fall even deeper into economic turmoil.
Before we talk about the election we should first understand how the German election works. When a German voter fills out their ballot, they vote on two things; the first to vote for who they want to lead their chosen constituency, and the second for what political party they want in the Bundestag (the German federal parliament). After all the votes are counted, parties who get less than 5% of the party vote are eliminated, with minor exceptions for parties representing minorities or parties with winning candidates in the first constituency, according to the DW. The 630 seats of the Bundestag are assigned and the winning party’s leader (traditionally) becomes the head of Germany's federal government, commonly known as a Chancellor.
If a party does not win an outright majority of seats, a coalition is formed. A coalition is traditionally formed with the winning party and one or two other parties to have a majority of the seats in the Bundestag. “For the last many years Germany has had two-party governments and sometimes three-party governments,” says Marianne Bashir, a former citizen of Germany currently living in Arizona. “This has become a necessity due to the many smaller political parties in Germany.” There hasn’t been a one-party government for some time. “The present-day two-party government has become the standard,” Bashir continues.
In the results of the election, the center-right parties commonly known as The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and their sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) won with Friedrich Merz as their leader, making him likely to be next Chancellor according to AP News. However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz will stay in power untill the next government is formed, according to the BBC, as Merz is currently deciding which other parties he will form a coalition with. For a two-party coalition, he can choose either the AfD (The Alternative for Germany, a far right party that’s been known to be extremist and Nazi-like) or the SPD (The Social Democratic Party of Germany, a center-left party that’s one of Germany’s oldest parties that has recently lost some of its support). However, according to NBC News, he has ruled out a coalition with the AfD. “The AfD’s policies will bring change, but not the right kind of change,” says Aphrodite Avidon, the Telegraph’s Political Correspondent. “I think that a coalition between the SPD and the CDU could be beneficial to Germany's economy and help them progress with their policies,” Avidon continues. “With Merz ruling out the AfD, I think we’ll get a Grand Coalition, with the SPD and CDU.
German politics have been getting heated recently as shown by one of the biggest voter turnouts in Germany’s history with just over 82% of Germans voting, according to DW. The previous, Traffic Light Coalition between the SPD, FDP, and The Greens fell apart early due to the leader of The Greens (Tobias Lindner) refusing to make big alterations to the federal budget. The previous leaders of the parties involved in the coalition have also made the decision to step down, leaving politics.
Since the fall of the previous coalition, big changes can be seen in German politics with the AfD nearly doubling their support, securing the second largest number of seats in the Bundestag, as mentioned earlier. The SPD and the other members of the Traffic Light Coalition also lost a substantial amount of votes, though the SPD was still able to secure the third most seats and the others did end up securing many votes. Still, the FDP did not get the 5% needed to enter the Bundestag. On the other side of the spectrum Die Linke (The Left) gained massive support, partly due to Heidi Reichinnek (Die Linke's co-chair) going viral with a speech about the AfD, according to the BBC. This gave them the votes needed to have some seats in the Bundestag, something they were unable to do in the previous election. A new party also appeared on the ballot for the first time, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which has a far-left populist platform, opposing the idea of Germany giving other countries foreign aid, with anti-immigration policies putting Germany first. The BSW received 4.98% of the party vote, and failed to earn any seats.
As of right now, it’s hard to say exactly how this will all turn out for Germany, as not everything has been decided but things are likely to change for the country. With two politically opposed parties having strong chances of forming a coalition, this is going to be interesting. “It’s not an ideal coalition but it’s for sure better than the alternative,” states Avidon.
