Posted on by Willem

Wednesday/ Germany’s elections

Here is a set of slides from Deutsche Welle’s website that shows the outcome of Sunday’s federal elections in Germany.
Angela Merkel’s party (the Christian Democrats) lost ground everywhere.
For the first time since the 1950s, at least three parties will be needed to form a coalition in Germany’s government. (The two largest parties are unlikely to form a coalition on their own).
The Social Democrats and the Green Party made the biggest gains.

The historic Reichstag building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany’s parliament. It will house members of the 6 major German political parties. It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894, severely damaged in 1933 (set on fire). It was only finally completely refurbished in 1999.
C.D.U./C.S.U. Christian Democratic Union/ Christian Social Union (the Bavarian sister party to C.D.U.)
S.P.D. Social Democrats
AfD Alternative for Germany (Deutschland)
F.D.P. the Free Democratic Party
Left The Left Party (‘Die Linke’)
Greens The Green Party
SSW South Schleswig Voters’ Association (regional party in Schleswig-Holstein)
There’s still a marked geographical element to support for the parties. The Greens have strong support in the big cities. The anti-immigrant far right AfD party has strong support near the borders with Eastern Europe.
The Greens have much more support among voters with higher educations; the AfD has much more support with voters without higher education.
Greens have more support in the cities; the AfD in the rural areas.
Older voters support the more traditional and established parties; younger voters the more progressive parties. No surprise here, I guess.
No marked difference in the male and female vote.

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