Preliminary Results are In…and they’re not what you might expect

    For the past 15 years Angela Merkel has ruled as the Chancellor of Germany since her election in 2005 when she was elected as the first female chancellor in history. However, the preliminary results show that her reign has come to an end. The current winner, Olaf Scholz, is the head of the Social Democratic Party(SPD). However, three of four Germans did not vote for him. The others who ran against him included Armin Laschat of the center-right Christian Democratic Union(CDU), Annalena Baerbock of the Greens Party, and Christian Lidner of the Free Democratic Party. Shcolz won 25.7% of the vote followed by Laschat, Baerbock, and Lidner respectively at 24.1%,14.8, and 11.5%.

Compared to previous elections in Germany, there are now four mid-sized parties competing for positions in government. Since the end of World War II, German elections have always been a contest between two parties, the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union. However, this year the Greens Party and the Free Democratic Party received a substantial number of votes. The Greens Party, as it says in its name, stands for climate change and social justice. As for the Free Democratic Party, they are a pro-business party, who are vying for tax cuts and a smaller role of state.

So why does this matter? As previously mentioned, German politics, like the United States, have always been defined by a two party system. However, this election went against the traditional narrative. Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, the Berlin based of the German Marshall Fund calls it “an unprecedented situation” and that there is a “structural shift going on in German politics”. Prior to this election, Angela Merkel ruled as the Chancellor of Germany as a CONSERVATIVE! Yet, she was dethroned by a social democratic party, which in the United States would be viewed as appalling. The other compelling aspect of this election was the large number of votes received by the Greens and Free Democratic Party. The question is, how did these parties get votes when in the past they hadn’t been able to? The answer, they were able to appeal to young and first time voters. These results demonstrate the new direction German politics are headed, the end of the two party system.