Germany faces political and economic uncertainty

Yesterday’s Germany election result has created more questions than answers and sparked plenty of national and international uncertainty.

With the Christian Democrat Union (CDU) achieving their largest share of the vote, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surging into second place and Olaf Scholz’ Social Democrat Party (SPD) falling into third, there were no shortage of political earthquakes. The hope is that a coalition government can be formed by Easter – creating a two-month power vacuum even in a best-case scenario.

The biggest loser is certainly the SPD, whose support dropped 9% since Germany’s last election and saw its worst results in decades.

Adding to the complicated picture, on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, tensions with the US spilled over, as Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz warned Europe that the US was now “indifferent” and wondered whether NATO could continue in its current form.