Who runs in the German elections and what are the main issues? | Election news

Germany will go to the ballot box on Sunday, February 23, after a Snap elections It was called in December after the collapse of the coalition government, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The main questions about the voters of these parliamentary elections will be the state of the economy, migration and war of Ukraine with Russia.

A study on February 12 by News Outlet Politico showed that the main opposition – the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian Nursing Party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) – are currently leading the urns with the support of 29 percent of voters, followed by the right alternative root Deutschland (AFD), which has 21 percent.

In the same poll, Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD) was third with 16 percent, followed by Alliance 90/Greens, commonly referred to as Greens, by 12 percent.

Junior Professor Ender Borbat of the Institute of Political Science in Ruprecht-Carls-Universities Heidelberg, told Al Jazeera that the renewal of support for HUU, which ruled Germany for 16 years until 2021, with former chancellor Angela Merkel before losing The last election was “not so surprising.”

“Due to the war in Ukraine and the resources that were needed to support the Ukrainian country in this conflict, much of the government priorities had to be reduced,” he said.

Here's all you need to know about the upcoming elections.

Why are the click elections called in Germany?

In November 2024, the ruling coalition of Germany, a three -way union between SPD, the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) collapsed after disagreements with regard to the country's weak economy, which led Scholz to Dismiss his finance ministerChristian Lindner of the FDP party.

After months of dispute, Scholz said he was fired by Lindner because of his obstructive behavior regarding the country's budget and accused him of setting a party in front of the country and blocking the legislation of false reasons, which causes the PPP to leave the government.

“Too often he was involved in low -key party political tactics. He violated my confidence too many times, “said Lindner's chancellor.

Lindner, for his part, said the Chancellor tried to prevent him from disrupting the limit of constitutional cost attachment known as the debt brake, a move that the fiscal hawk refused to support.

A vote of trust was held in Parliament in December, scholzThe way to make the road to the parliamentary elections of February 23.

Which major parties challenge these elections?

The country has two groups of centrist parties; Scholz's SPD and the Conservative Union that includes CDU and CSU.

In recent years, these parties have been losing support, while smaller parties on both sides of the political spectrum, including the green and far-right AFD, have received support.

In addition to these players, FDP, Pro-Market, Neoliberal-Dight Policy Party, the final left linke and the left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) are also running in the elections.

What are the two major party leaders and what do they offer?

Olaf Scholz, Social Democratic Party (SPD)

66 -year -old Scholz, the current German Chancellor, re -runs in the upcoming elections after sworn in Bundestag in December 2021 after running as a candidate for continuity after leaving the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was Chancellor for a continuation 16 years old.

During the term of Scholz as Chancellor, he led the country several internal and European issues, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

However, as disputes between members of its tripartite coalition over the national budget have increased, Scholz's popularity has declined. As of January, only 31 percent of people said they had approved Scholz as a country's leader, according to the Statista of the Election Group.

Friedrich Mertz, Christian Democrats

69 -year -old Friedrich Mertz, the CDU leader, is a well -known person in the Conservative Bloc when he joins the party's youth hand as a young man and makes his way in the ranks.

From 2000 to 2002, Mertz served as the leader of the party, but lost the position of Merkel, who later continued to become the first female chancellor in the history of Germany and to have the longest time of service.

But Mertz was often critical of Merkel and offered what many consider to be a more conservative and business approach than the former German leader who had more centralist views and opened the German refugee borders in 2015. This move was praised by some, but Convicted by others, mainly to the right of the political spectrum. In addition, it has become less popular in recent years.

So far, Mertz has promised to stop what he called illegal migration, promised the “zero tolerance” of crime and said he would reverse the legalization of marijuana.

With CDU, which is currently coming in the ballot box, Merz is welcomed to win the election.

But at the end of January Mertz Drew dispute When he set a continuous proposal to Germany's parliament to strengthen border control and accelerate deportations. The proposal was supported by AFD, violating the long -standing firewall, which had previously prevented the main parties from cooperating with the far right and prompted Merkel from criticizing the public. He noted the first time the far right is relied on to adopt legislation in Germany.

Despite the help of the distant right, Mertz told the CDU Convention earlier this month that he would not cooperate with AFD and “make the party as little as possible.”

But Professor Borbat said that breach of the firewall helped AFD achieve some kind of “normalization” in German politics. It was a “warning sign,” he said.

“I think this can also reflect some deliberate strategy in the sense of testing the type of public climate, testing the discursive climate and see what happens, should there be any coordination with AFD or if you need AFD as accepted as AFD Normal political party. “

How does the German electoral system work?

General elections are called every four years, and this one is initially scheduled for September 2025.

On Sunday, German citizens will vote twice: once for a local member of parliament and second, for a party.

This system means that in addition to the winning local MP, each party also sends a number of MPs to the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) based on the share of the votes it provided them with the second vote.

The second vote is considered to be the most important and is the broadest reported on an election night, as it determines the number of places that the party will receive as a whole in the Bundestag and the power of the party within the government.

There are 630 parliamentary seizures that will be distributed in proportion to the second votes.

A coalition government is likely to be formed, as it is rare for a party to win an absolute majority. The only time a party secured a majority was for the parliamentary term from 1957 to 1961, when CDU/CSU won the West German election.

Whatever the party provides the most votes, he will nominate a candidate for Chancellor, and the new Bundestag will vote. The applicant must provide an absolute majority in order to be sworn in as a new leader in the country.

What time do the polling stations open?

The election stations will be open from 8am (07:00 GMT) to 6:00 pm (17:00 GMT) on Sunday when the results of the poll at the output are expected.

Initial results are expected to start coming in half an hour after the polls are closed, and the final results are usually determined overnight.

What are the main problems?

Ukraine

Most of the major parties, including SPD, CDU and Greens, support the provision of Ukraine's help against the backdrop of its almost three-year war with Russia, but Scholz uses a slightly more cautious approach than others, and also emphasizes the need for diplomacy.

Conversely, AFD and BSW called for termination of arms supplies to Ukraine and resuming relations with Moscow.

Germany is the second highest supporter of Ukraine's military efforts after the United States.

According to the German government, in 2024, Germany provides military assistance to Ukraine worth approximately € 7.1 billion ($ 7.4 billion).

Last week, the German television operator, ZDF, published a poll that found that 67 percent of Germans supported the government's military support for Ukraine.

Economy

The question of whether to reform the constitutionally constitutional brake of Germany in order to allow for increased public spending is a central question for these elections.

According to German legislation, the state can only spend as much money as collected in taxes.

But duty interruption allows the government to borrow up to 0.35 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in emergencies, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now the Greens and Scholz have called for the reform of the debt brake to allow for more public costs.

Mertz signals some openness to this, but remains cautious. He told a television debate with Scholz last week: “I always said you can discuss this, but definitely not in the beginning.

“First comes the savings potential, growth, as well as the budget redistributions that are urgently needed,” he said.

AFD and FDP are unwavering defenders of a public loan limit.

AFD also wants Germany to stop using the euro, re -introduce Deutschmark, the national currency for the last used in 2002, and potentially leave the European Union.

Migration

Almost all countries have called for more stringent migration measures after a number of attacks against crowds, such as an incident in December in which a native Saudi psychiatrist entered a a Christmas marketKilling five people.

• CDU has called for more border control and restrictions on family reunification and refugee naturalization.
• The end-the-right AF has called on the borders to be closed and to be eliminated for the asylum seekers.
• SPDs insists on the imposition of a tougher border control and deportations of people who have entered the country through irregular means, such as a boat. At the same time, however, he wants to bring more foreign qualified workers.
• The Green Party is a lonely voice, a supporting policy for open -door asylum and insists on state -supported initiatives to rescue the sea, simplifying family unification and promoting the integration of refugees into German society.

Borat, however, said that after Afghan seeker asylum Drives a car in a crowd in Munich On Thursday, most parties are likely to strengthen their position on immigration.

“There is simply no party saying” Yes, migration is necessary “and that” migration is good “… So I think in this sense the effect of AFD is much more visible than in the process of creating a policy … This normalization of AFD, from immigration critical voices that were previously related to AFD, (IS) becomes much more widespread and normalized and conquered by the left or left-wing forces of the center, “said He.