Germany’s ruling coalition suffered a crushing blow in the European Parliament election on Sunday, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats recording their worst result in a national vote in more than a century.
The left-leaning coalition’s steep losses — support for the Greens fell by nearly half — will likely renew questions over the government’s stability. The alliance, a three-way partnership that includes the Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats, has struggled to find answers to an array of acute problems facing the country, from a stagnant economy to the deep dysfunction of its asylum system.
Though regular elections aren’t due until the fall of 2025, persistent infighting within the alliance over everything from Russia’s war on Ukraine to the budget has fueled speculation that the government could collapse well before then.
The center-right Christian Democrats were the clear victors on Sunday, winning 30.2 percent of the vote according to a projection for German public television.
The extreme-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) also put in a strong showing, finishing second with 16 percent, a gain of 5 percentage points compared to the 2019 EU election. The party has capitalized on growing concerns in the country over a huge influx of asylum seekers in the past decade.
Meanwhile, Scholz’s Social Democrats garnered less than 14 percent, an extraordinary decline for a party that has long been a pillar of Germany’s political landscape. In 2019, the party won just 15.8 percent, which at the time was also considered a disastrous result.
The latest loss is a particular humiliation for Scholz, who, despite his dismal approval ratings, insisted that he should be the face of the campaign alongside the party’s lead candidate for the Europe race, Katarina Barley.
Finger-pointing aside, the real question is whether Scholz’s government will survive. German coalitions rarely collapse before the end of a term, but this one is atypical because it includes three parties instead of the customary two, which makes it more volatile.
What’s more, given the magnitude of the coalition’s slide in voters’ estimation — Sunday’s result suggests only about 30 percent of Germans still support the alliance — some argue the government has lost its legitimacy.
Photo: A SPD EU election billboard featuring German Chancellor Olaf Scholz alongside the party’s lead candidate for the Europe race, Katarina Barley. Courtesy SPD.
