INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Germanys conservative CDU/CSU alliance led by Friedrich Merz won Sundays elections with 28.9 percent of the vote, according to upgraded exit
polls.The reactionary Alternative for Germany (AfD) followed in 2nd place with 19.7 percent, roughly doubling its result in the last
election in 2021, based upon preliminary figures from public broadcasters ARD and ZDF.The surge of the anti-immigration AfD was fuelled by
public fears over immigration and security after a spate of deadly attacks blamed on migrants and stress over the ailing economy.Despite the
strong result, the AfD is set to stay out of power for now, due to the fact that its possible union partners decline all cooperation with
the far right.If the exit surveys are confirmed in the last count, Merz looks near specific to become the next chancellor of Europes top
economy.But in order to develop a bulk in parliament, he would have to team up with several celebrations, possibly the Social Democrats
(SPD) of outbound Chancellor Olaf Scholz.The SPD recorded what was most likely to be their worst result in the history of Germanys post-war
democracy, with between 16.1 percent.The Greens, another possible partner for the CDU/CSU, had 13.2 percent of the votes according to the
exit polls.But the exact chances could depend on the final result for smaller celebrations
The far-left Linke sought to have actually cleared the five-percent obstacle to get in the Bundestag, with 8.6 percent.The pro-business Free
Democrats (FDP), who remained in federal government up until just recently, were right around the five-percent threshold (4.9 percent), as
was another far-left celebration, beginner the BSW (4.8 percent).(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
