Europeans in Germany: SPD rules out early legislative elections scenario after defeat
The German Social Democratic Party (SPD) has ruled out the possibility of bringing forward legislative elections, following the defeat in Sunday’s European elections, in which the main party of the current Government was relegated to third place place.
The SPD, in whose campaign Chancellor Olaf Scholz was personally involved, added 13.9%, its worst result ever in a national election and far from the 30% achieved by the conservative bloc led by the CDU on Sunday. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party came in second place, with 15.90%.
Requested by the far right and mainstream conservatives, early elections were not considered “at any time, not for a second”, said Steffen Hebestreit, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s spokesman, despite an “unsatisfactory” result. ” for the three parties of the government coalition made up of the Social Democrats of the Chancellery, the Greens and the Liberals.
The Greens lost almost half the vote, to 11.9%, and the Liberals took 5.2% of the vote, according to the final count.
“The numbers don’t lie and the federal government has to do much better,” Achim Post, deputy leader of the SPD parliamentary group, told public broadcaster WDR5. “We are not satisfied at all and we have to make sure we get back to the top,” he said, rejecting any parallels with France.
Post ruled out that Scholz’s leadership was in question, even placing him as a candidate again in the next general elections in Germany, scheduled for 2025.
Participation record
The participation rate in the European elections in Germany was 64.8%, an unprecedented figure since reunification.
The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, stressed on Sunday that he was “proud” and “grateful” with the projections that gave victory to the conservatives.
“Together with Ursula von der Leyen, the CDU and CSU (CDU’s sister party in Bavaria) won the European elections in Germany clearly,” he stated.
“The result of the elections makes me very proud and very grateful”, he stressed, amid applause, adding that these results, which show a decline in the three parties that form the “traffic light” coalition that governs the country, should serve as a lesson for the future.
“This was a disaster for the coalition parties, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the FDP Liberals. They must now think about the future and correct and change their policies”, he pointed out.
Ursula von der Leyen, ‘spitzenkandidaten’ (main candidate) of the CDU and EPP, spoke from Brussels, highlighting the excellent result of the union of the conservatives, who were “strong and stable in difficult times”.
Around 361 million voters from the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) were called to choose the composition of the next European Parliament, electing 720 MEPs, 15 more than in the previous legislature.
Portugal has 21 seats in the European hemicycle.
