Germany turned to the right in Sunday’s election, with the Christian Democrats (CDU) in first place at 29 per cent and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on just over 20 per cent. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the Liberals lost millions of votes. Yet, one party on the left won a surprising reprieve.
The Left Party’s campaign stickers ahead of this election boasted, “Others want to govern. We want to change things.” Its 9 per cent of support (a four-point rise over 2021) and its projected 64 seats in the Bundestag may not be enough to revolutionise German politics. But its members reacted ecstatically to exit polls. Having scored under 3 per cent in last June’s European elections, the party seemed headed towards extinction; now, it seems it can rebuild.
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