Friedrich Merz wins German federal election 2025

Germany is facing a change of power. The Union parties clearly won the federal election on Sunday. According to projections by Infratest Dimap for ARD, the CDU and CSU received 28.5 percent of the vote. The AfD came in second with 20.6 percent. The Chancellor’s party, the SPD, suffered heavy losses and achieved the worst result in its history with 16.4 percent. The Greens received 11.9 percent of the vote, the Left 8.6 percent. According to the figures, the FDP and BSW will not enter the Bundestag.

While the CDU/CSU have won the largest share of votes, they don’t an absolute majority. The party is set to gain 208 seats in the Bundestag. They will need to enter a coalition with another party to secure 316 seats in the Bundestag, the minimum for a majority, and form the next government. The CDU has ruled out a coalition with the AfD. That leaves a two-way grand coalition with the SPD or three-way coalition including the Greens as the most likely options, depending on the final seat distribution. The coalition calculator shows possible coalition outcomes.