Newsman: The conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union beats Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats by winning 30.2 percent of the vote according to a projection for German public television in Sunday’s European election in Germany.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) is projected to finish third with 13.9 percent, its worst result in a national election since the party was founded well over a century ago. The real race in Germany was for runner-up as the victory of the conservative was expected.
The projections, released after polls closed in Germany Sunday, provide an early glimpse of results.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was projected to finish second with 16 percent, a gain of 5 percentage points compared to the 2019 EU election.
The Greens, who rule in a federal coalition with the SPD and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), are projected to finish with 11.9 percent, an 8.6 percentage point drop in support compared to the 2019 European election, making the party the biggest loser of the election.
The FDP, the smallest coalition member, was projected to drop to 5 percent, near the threshold the party will need to re-enter the Bundestag in parliamentary elections next year.
Germany’s new populist party Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), which combines left-wing economic policies with right-wing cultural views appeared with a projected result of 6.1 percent in the political landscape.
