The new elections in Germany

Olaf Scholz admits defeat: "I bear responsibility"

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz admits defeat and congratulates CDU leader Friedrich Merz on his election victory, writes Reuters.

- This is a bitter election result for the Social Democrats, says Scholz.

According to exit polls, the party will receive just over 16 percent of the vote and become the third largest party. In the last election, the SPD was the largest party with 25 percent of the vote.

- The election result is bad and I bear responsibility, says Scholz according to AFP.

Party colleague Boris Pistorius, who is defense minister, says it like it is:

- A catastrophic election result.

The forecasts in the two polling stations

ZDF polling station survey:

SPD: 16.5%

CDU: 28.5%

The Greens: 12.0%

FDP: 5.0%

AFD: 20.0%

The Left: 9.0%

BSW: 5.0%

Others: 4.0%

ARD polling station survey:

SPD: 16.0%

CDU: 29.0%

The Greens: 13.5%

FDP: 4.9%

AFD: 19.5%

The Left: 8.5%

BSW: 4.7%

Others: 3.9%

Strong election for the left – enters the Bundestag

The Left Party is making a huge success in the new elections in Germany, reports Tagesspiel. They land on nine percent, according to the ZDF polling station survey, which means they will once again enter the Bundestag. According to the ARD survey, they will get 8.5 percent.

In the last election, in 2021, they only got 4.9 percent, which meant that they were under the threshold at that time.

Deutsche Welle reports that the mood at the party's election vigil is good. Party leader Jan van Aken says after the polling station survey that he feels comfortable in a likely opposition.

- In the opposition, we can also change things, he says according to Bild.

Reactions to the German new elections
AFD leader Alice Weidel: "Historic result"

The far-right party AFD doubles its support from the last election and collects around 20 percent of the votes in the German media's polling station surveys.

– We have achieved a historic result. We have cemented ourselves in the political landscape, says party leader Alice Weidel after the exit poll.

The crowd responds by chanting: “AFD, AFD, AFD!”

Despite the strong result, the AFD does not look like it will be able to sit in the government. The CDU and its sister party the CSU are making a very strong election and look like they will get close to 30 percent of the vote. This means that the party can form a majority government together with the social democratic SPD and the Greens.