Conservatives Led by Merz Win Elections in Germany: Priorities Include Government Formation and Support for Ukraine

The winner of the German parliamentary elections, Friedrich Merz, has said that Ukraine should be included in peace talks to achieve a just peace.

In his opinion, it is important that Kyiv is represented in the discussions, especially in the context of the negotiations between the United States and Russia, in which Ukraine is not involved.

Merz stressed that the European Union should actively support Ukraine by engaging it in dialogue with Russia from a ‘position of strength’.

After the exit polls were announced, Merz said he was ready to take responsibility for Germany. 

In the German elections, the conservative bloc of the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union won the majority (29%). The right-wing radical Alternative for Germany is in second place with 19.5 per cent. The Social Democrats are on 16%. ‘The Greens won 13.5 per cent. The Left Party unexpectedly showed a good result of 8.5 per cent, while the party that left the Left Party, the Sarah Wagenknecht Bloc, failed to overcome the 5 per cent threshold. 

In the snap elections on 23 February, 59.2 million German citizens were eligible to vote. The turnout was the highest ever, reaching 84%.

At the headquarters of his party, the Social Democratic Party, Scholz acknowledged that the result was bad for the party and that he also bore a share of responsibility for it. He congratulated the CDU/CSU bloc, led by CDU leader Merz, which received a mandate to form a new government.

Due to the reform of Germany's electoral system, several candidates who won their constituencies on Sunday will still not become members of parliament. The electoral reform was approved to reduce the size of the German parliament, the Bundestag. The new parliament will have 630 seats instead of the 736 it had after the 2021 vote. This made the Bundestag larger than any other democratically elected parliament in the world - and also extremely expensive.

However, the reform means that the 23 winners - many of them from the conservative CDU/CSU bloc - will not enter the Bundestag.

European leaders congratulated Merz. French President Emmanuel Macron said he was determined to work for a ‘strong, sovereign Europe’

In his congratulations to CDU/CSU leader Friedrich Merz on his victory in the Bundestag elections, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasised the strengthening of Europe. 

‘I congratulate the CDU/CSU and Friedrich Merz on their victory in the Bundestag elections. The voters' voice is clear, and we see how important this is for Europe. We look forward to continuing our joint work with Germany to protect lives and bring real peace to Ukraine, as well as to strengthen Europe,’ Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote.