German Conservatives Win Historic Election, Far-Right Vote Doubles

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In a significant political victory, Germany‘s conservative CDU/CSU party, led by Friedrich Merz, emerged as winners from an election that is widely considered one of the most crucial German elections since the country’s unification in 1990.

In the national elections held on Sunday, Merz’s conservative party secured approximately 29% of the votes, becoming the biggest alliance. Merz is poised to take over from Olaf Scholz as the next Chancellor of Germany. Yet, this outcome indicates that the conservatives cannot govern independently. Instead, Germany is bracing for several weeks to months of secretive talks as Merz, a wealthy ex-corporate lawyer and banker, attempts to forge a coalition government with one or more of his political adversaries.

As a follower, I’ve noticed that the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), often criticized for its anti-Islam stance and calls for the expulsion or “remigration” of immigrants who haven’t fully integrated, significantly increased their support since the 2021 election, garnering nearly 21% of the vote. Interestingly, Elon Musk has shown open support for the AfD, making an appearance at one of their rallies via video link and conducting an interview with their leader, Alice Weidel. However, these actions don’t seem to have significantly influenced the election outcome, as the party has been consistently polling around 20-21% for months prior.

Merz firmly refuses to ally with the AfD, considering it akin to compromising his party’s integrity, and all other parliamentary parties have vowed to maintain a barrier against the extreme right, which they refer to as the “Brandmauer.

Should the firewall maintain its position, the outcomes from Sunday imply that Merz’s CDU/CSU alliance has two potential routes to establish a government: either a “grand coalition” with Olaf Scholtz’s center-left SPD, or a more complex three-party alliance consisting of the conservatives, SPD, and Greens. Merz had aspired to unite with the FDP, a pro-business party that was part of the previous administration; however, they fell short of securing the 5% of votes necessary for parliamentary representation.

To everyone’s astonishment, the once-dismissed leftist party Die Linke managed to secure an impressive 8.5% of the votes in the recent election, surpassing all predictions made about its demise only a year prior.

Throughout his campaign, Merz emphasized strengthening immigration restrictions and internal security, promising to reinforce Germany’s borders and expedite the removal of denied asylum seekers. Moreover, he intends to revitalize Germany’s sluggish economy by implementing tax reductions, reducing benefits, streamlining administrative procedures, and potentially modifying the country’s debt ceiling limits.

Germany’s film and TV sector isn’t high on Merz’s agenda at the moment. The outgoing administration recently passed a new law for film financing just before its end, securing the country’s current system of film subsidies, which supported movies like Tim Fehlbaum’s “September 5” and Mohammad Rassalouf’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” during award season. However, the industry is still advocating for a revised tax incentive policy to make Germany competitive within Europe and attract international productions. Additionally, they are lobbying for legislation that would require streaming platforms operating in Germany to allocate a set percentage of their earnings towards local content production.

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2025-02-24 10:24