Germany election results: Friedrich Merz Siege, right-wing extremist AfD second

Berlin (AP) – The opposition conservatives listed by Friedrich Merz won a lack of victory in Germany's election on Sunday and Alternative for Germany Doubled his support in the strongest performance for a right -wing extremist party since World War II and showed projections.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave a defeat against his Social Democrats at the center after he described “a bitter election result”. Forecasts for ARD and ZDF public television showed that his party took third place with the worst post -war result for a national parliamentary election.

Merz said he hoped to put together a coalition government until Easter. But that's probably a challenge.

An dissatisfied nation

The election took place seven months earlier than planned according to the unpopular coalition of Scholz collapsed in NovemberThree years after a term that was increasingly affected by fighting. There was widespread dissatisfaction and not much enthusiasm for one of The candidates.

The campaign was dominated by concerns about the years of stagnation from Europe's largest economy and pressure to contain the migration – something that caused friction after Merz hard -pressed In the past few weeks for a harder approach. Against a background of the growing uncertainty, it took place over the Future of Ukraine and Europe's alliance with the United States.

Germany is the most populous country in the 27-nation-European Union and a leading member of NATO. It was the second largest arms supplier of Ukraine, after the United States it will be of central importance to form the continent's reaction to the challenges of the coming years, including the Trump Administration Confrontation foreign and trade policy.

The forecasts based on exit surveys and partially count, Merz 'Union Block supports around 28.5% and the anti-immigration alternative for Germany or AfD around 20.5% of the result of their result of 2021.

They support the Scholz Social Democrats with a little more than 16 %, far lower than in the last elections and under their previous post -war note %.

Of three smaller parties, a hard party intensified on the left of the party and won up to 9% of the votes after a remarkable comeback. The Pro Business-Free Democrats, which were the third in the collapsed government, seemed to lose their seats in parliament at about 4.5%. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) floated around the 5% threshold that was necessary to win from sitting.

A difficult task for the winner

Whether Merz will have a majority to form a coalition with Scholz 'Social Democrats or to need a second partner who should realistically be the greens, will depend on whether the BSW is entering parliament. The conservative guide said: “The most important thing is to restore a sustainable government in Germany as soon as possible.”

“I am aware of responsibility,” said Merz. “I am also aware of the extent of the task that is now ahead of us. I am closer with the greatest respect and know that it won't be easy. “

“The world out there is not waiting for us and it is not waiting for boring coalition talks and negotiations,” he told cheering followers.

The Greens candidate for Chancellor, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, said Merz would be good to moderate his tone after a highly competitive campaign.

“We saw that the center is weakened overall, and everyone should watch themselves and ask themselves whether they didn't contribute to it,” said Habeck. “Now he has to see that he behaves like a chancellor.”

The Greens were the party, which was least part of the participation in Scholz's unpopular government. The Secretary General of the Social Democrats, Matthias Miersch, suggested that their defeat was no surprise – “This election has not been lost in the past eight weeks.”

An enthusiastic right -wing extremist party has no partner

Tino Chrupalla, co-leader from AfD, told the cheering followers that “we have achieved something historical today”.

“We are now the political center and have left the edges behind us,” he said. The strongest submission of the party was 12.6% in 2017 when it entered the national parliament for the first time.

The candidate of the party for Chancellor Alice Weidel said that she was “open to coalition negotiations with Merz 'party, and in Germany no change in politics is possible. Merz has repeatedly ruled out to work with AfD, as well as others Mainstream parties -and did this again in an exchange of television with Weidel and other managers.

Weidel suggested that AfD does not have to make many concessions to secure a theoretical coalition, and argues that the union largely copies its program and mock its “pyrrhical victory”.

“It will not be able to implement it with left -wing parties,” she said. If Merz ultimately forms an alliance with the Social Democrats and Greens, “it will be an unstable government that does not take four years, there will be an interim chancellor Friedrich Merz and in the coming years we will overtake the Union.”

Merz dismissed the idea that the voters wanted a coalition with AfD. “We basically have different views, for example on foreign policy, in relation to security policy, in many other areas in relation to Europe, the euro, NATO,” he said.

“You want the opposite of what we want, so there will be no cooperation,” added Merz.

Scholz sentenced AfD's success. He said, “It must never be something that we will accept. I will not accept it and will never do it. “

More than 59 million people in the nation of 84 million were entitled to choose the 630 members of the lower house of Parliament, The Bundestagwhich will take your seats under the glass dome of the Berlin Reichstag building.

___

The journalists from Associated Press, Kirsten Grieshaber, Vanessa Gera and Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.