1d ago

German election live: Centre-right CDU and CSU parties win, say exit polls Far-right Alternative for Germany records best result with close to 20 per cent of the vote

www.ft.com German election as it happened: Friedrich Merz set to become chancellor

Christian Democrats secure under 30% of vote, while far-right AfD comes in historic second place

1d ago

www.ft.com /content/b60db188-2b58-42eb-8bb2-5ca97ff5e0b6

33 2

You're viewing a single thread.

52 comments

Nazis won’t be part of the government after this result.
The conservatives have stated before the election that they won’t form a coalition with the far right AfD, the green party or the left party. But with this result, they have a majority with the social democrats alone.
This will be a stable, centrist, boring government, typically German. Too little progress, but no catastrophe, and no threat to EU democracy, nor to international obligations or support for Ukraine. Neither party are Putin bootlickers either.
In the opposition, the greens and the left combined have more seats than the AfD. And 84% turnout is the highest since 1987!!!
- This will be a stable, centrist, boring government, typically German. Too little progress, but no catastrophe
  And this will be the problem and drive even more people to the AfD. If nothing ever changes, people want to look for something else. For an alternative. And on the surface some points of AfD sound appealing, and if you aren't a foreigner, you can "turn a blind eye" on the nazi stuff. With a Groko and standstill for 4 more years, I'm afraid that next time we won't be so lucky and AfD will actually be the strongest party.
  It is very ironic because for the first time after 16 years things did change but somehow the government was still blamed and bashed. Let alone that the biggest problem was not SPD and Greens but that the minister of finance was only focused on politics for the minister of finance. I'm happy this fuckwit finally resigned, but we could have had a great minority government that would have actually enabled change if he had just decided to do this earlier. Instead, thank you Christian, you've driven the whole country down a path where we are supposed to be happy that a conservative party who fucked the country for 16 years is the strongest power yet again and that "they promised" to not form a coalition with AfD. DeMoCRaCy wOn.
  
  AFD said they'll win it all next time, and if people continue consuming Russian/Elon shitposting and rotting their brain, they probably will
  
  Yeah, leftist politics will drive more people to the AfD, conservative politics will drive more people to the AfD, ignoring the AfD will drive more people to the AfD, giving them too much air time will drive more people to the AfD, yadayadayada....
  This was the election with the highest voter turnout in 40 years and the AfD got 20%.
  The same 20% who have consistently given far-right and anti-semitic answers in opinion polls and political studies all throughout the recent history of the Bundesrepublik.
  There were always 20% Nazis here, they just didn't vote in past elections, or they voted CDU/CSU.
  Our political system can deal with those 20%, whether they have their own party or not. That's exactly what the German constitution was designed to do right from the start.
  
  20% Nazis? Are you out of your mind? Every fifth person?
  
  If you ask questions like, "Is the life of an immigrant worth as much as that of a German?" or "Do the Jews have too much power?", then yes, 20% will consistently hold nazi beliefs.
  
  Where did you get that from? You can't just quote without providing a source.
  
  In their defense, the AfD did indeed get over 20% of the votes, and won almost every single district in former East Germany.
  
  I think France is more likely to turn Fascist.
- Boring and little progress IS a catastrophe.
- Good old boring politics. Those were the days...
  
  Yeah, what I would give for more milquetoast leadership in Washington instead of this dumpster fire.
  
  Unfortunately those days gave AfD what they needed to attract the common man. A forgotten working class.
  
  The AfD really started picking up support with the asylum crisis, we had many boring years before that.
  
  I just think that you can't just follow a standard "boring" centre-right policy playbook and expect the far-right voters to disappear. AfD might get classified as an extremist group and not be allowed in the next election, but that demographic won't go anywhere. In fact, having their representation forcibly removed from parliament is likely to galvanise them.
  The underlying problems need to be addressed.
  
  One part is addressing the problem, another part is addressing the lies that have exaggerated the problem. Both are important.
  
  Yes, they've been lied to about the reason for their lives are hard and the problems they have. However they won't accept that they have been lied to if all you do is tell them. Words won't do it. Actions are necessary to demonstrate they are wrong.

52 comments