Germany Election: Race to Succeed Merkel Heads for a Photo-finish

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Germany’s two main parties, Social Democrats and Christian Democrats, are neck and neck as country heads for likely three-way coalition after yesterday’s election to determine who will succeed Angela Merkel as leader of Europe’s largest economy.

An exit poll from public broadcaster ARD put both the left-of-centre Social Democrats and the centre-right CDU/CSU on 25 percent, with the Greens on 15 percent and liberal Free Democrats (FDP) on 11 percent.

However another exit poll from broadcaster ZDF put the Social Democrats ahead on 26 percent, the CDU/CSU on 24 percent, the Greens on 14.5 percent and the FDP on 12 percent.

The preliminary results suggest Germany is set for a three-way coalition, the first in its recent history. That will entail weeks and possibly months of wrangling as the parties overcome their many differences to cobble together a viable government.

However, it is still unclear what form the coalition will take, and whether Germany’s next government will be led by the SPD, and its chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz, the current finance minister, or the CDU/CSU of Armin Laschet.

Sunday’s Bundestag election was the first in Germany’s postwar history when an incumbent chancellor did not stand for re-election, a factor that made the race one of the most volatile and unpredictable in living memory. All of the main parties — SPD, CDU/CSU and Greens — have seen ten-point swings in their poll ratings since the start of the year.

Merkel’s departure from power meant the millions of voters who had voted for her in past elections but had no strong allegiance to the CDU/CSU were up for grabs.