Merkel’s party loses in Germany election
Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has narrowly lost in Germany’s federal elections, according to preliminary results
BBC reports that Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) beat the CDU by securing 25.7% of the vote. The ruling conservative bloc gained 24.1%.
The Greens achieved the best result in their party’s history, coming in third with 14.8% of the ballot.
A coalition must now be created to form a government.
SDP leader Olaf Scholz earlier said his party had a clear mandate to rule, as his party started to edge into the lead.
Exit polls predicted a dead heat, but this election has been unpredictable from the start, and the result was never going to be the end of the story. For one thing, the outgoing chancellor is going nowhere until the coalition is formed – and that may have to wait until Christmas.