“The CDU is in good shape. We will celebrate tonight, but we’ll get back to work tomorrow,” Friedrich Merz, the anticipated next Chancellor of Germany told Rudaw after his group, the CDU, emerged as the leading party.
Merz also expressed gratitude for the support for Germany’s Kurdish community, stating, “I am very happy for the many voters in Germany, for all the people in the CDU who helped us, who worked tirelessly for us, and led this election campaign.”
At 69, Merz, the CDU chairman, is poised to become Germany's next chancellor. He was widely considered the main competitor to incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD).
The election, held on Sunday, saw 630 parliamentary seats contested with over 59 million eligible voters. Exit polls indicated that the CDU/CSU alliance led with 28.5 percent, followed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) came in second with 20.5 percent, and the SPD with 16.4 percent.
Mario Voigt, a CDU politician, also celebrated the victory and expressed support for Merz. “Today is a good day for Germany and the CDU. We are the strongest [party] in the nation, and it is clear that the new government will be led by the CDU/CSU, with Friedrich Merz as Chancellor,” said Voigt.
Meanwhile, Alexander Schweitzer, from the rival Social Democratic Party (SPD) acknowledged the loss, noting that his group had expected their defeat in the days leading up to the elections. “The CDU/CSU had poor results as well but won nonetheless. This is one of their worst results, but they are in first place, so the responsibility to form the government now falls on Merz and his union,” he told Rudaw.
Stephan Weil, the SPD leader in Lower Saxony, admitted that his party had lost voter trust in recent years. “The people wanted a different government,” he said.
SPD co-chief Lars Klingbeil also reflected on the defeat. “We want to be a party for the whole society, for everyone, and seeing the concrete results of the election, we know we have weaknesses to address,” he told Rudaw.
The election results highlight significant concerns over issues such as immigration and the economy, which dominated the pre-election discourse, according to a poll by Deutsche Welle (DW).
