DREAM / The Prime Minister resigns and wakes up under the Parisian bridge!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

What you need to know about the German elections: The new government will design Europe's response to a Trump

2025-02-21 21:46:54Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
What you need to know about the German elections: The new government will design
What you need to know about the elections in Germany

Geir Moulson – Associated Press

German voters go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament that will determine how the country will be run for the next four years.

Europe's largest economy is the European Union's most populous country, a key NATO member and the second-largest arms supplier to Ukraine, after the US, since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Germany's next government will be the center of Europe's response to a new US administration.

What happens on election day?

Polls will open at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. Germans can also vote by postal ballot, but their ballots must arrive by the time polling stations close on election day to be counted.

The vote counting will begin immediately after the end of voting and the overall picture of the result should be clear very soon.

A final official result is expected early Monday.

Who are the contenders?

Four candidates are vying to be Germany's next leader: current Chancellor Olaf Scholz, of the center-left Social Democrats; Friedrich Merz, the candidate of the main conservative Christian Democratic Union party; current Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, of the environmentalists; and Alice Weidel, of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD.

Pre-election polls have put Merz's bloc in the lead with around 30%, ahead of the AfD, with around 20%. Scholz's Social Democrats and Habeck's Greens are next.

Merz is favored to replace Scholz as chancellor, but it is not yet clear what governing coalitions will be possible after the election. How easy it is to form a government could depend in part on the number of parties in the new parliament. Opinion polls show three parties hovering around the 5% of the vote needed to win seats.

All the main parties say they will not work with the AfD.

At least 59.2 million people in a country of 84 million are eligible to vote for the new Bundestag. It is the 630-member Bundestag that will elect the next chancellor.

There are 29 parties on the ballot, but it is likely that five to eight of them will receive enough votes to win seats in parliament. In most cases, parties must win at least 5% of the vote to get a share of the seats.

What happens after the polling stations close?

Germany's electoral system rarely gives any party an absolute majority, and polls suggest that no party is even close this time. The country has no tradition of minority governments at the national level, meaning that two or more parties are more likely to form a coalition.

There is no arbiter of the process of forming a new government and no set deadline. The parties hold exploratory talks to determine which one they can find common ground with, and a combination of parties then moves on to formal coalition talks.

These negotiations usually produce a detailed coalition agreement setting out the plans of the new government. This will usually need approval at least by the conventions of the parties involved. Some parties may choose to put it to a ballot of their entire membership.

Once this process is complete, the Bundestag can elect the new Chancellor.

What is at stake?

A strong German government would be important for Europe's response to the new US administration and to the unrest in Ukraine and elsewhere.

Germany and neighboring France have traditionally been the engine of the EU, but both heavyweights have been consumed by domestic political instability in recent months.

These elections are being held seven months earlier than originally planned because Scholz's three-party coalition collapsed in November as he argued over how to revive the economy, which has shrunk over the past two years.

One of the most urgent tasks of the new government will be to find a coherent response to this problem.

Another challenge will be to further reduce irregular migration, which has been a key issue in the campaign.

Merz has said he hopes to form a new government by mid-April if he wins.

Scholz's outgoing government will remain in office on an interim basis until the Bundestag elects a new chancellor.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×