Merkel Suffers Huge Losses in Euro Elections

Published May 27th, 2019 - 09:57 GMT
German Chancellor Angela Merkel  (AFP)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (AFP)
Highlights
Ahead of the elections, many polls predicted the AfD on 12 percent or above.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative-left coalition government suffered huge losses in Sunday’s elections at the European Parliament, while the environmentalist and pro- immigration Green Party’s votes was at record high.

Merkel’s Christian Democratic bloc (CDU/CSU) scored only 28.9 % of the vote, marking the worst result since the first European Parliament elections in 1979.

The CDU/CSU’s coalition government the Social Democrat Party (SPD) also recorded its worst result, gaining just 15.8%.

Germany’s opposition Green Party managed to record the best election result in their history, winning 20.5 %, according to the preliminary election results.

The far-right Islamophobic Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 11% of votes, up from 7.1% in the last election.

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Ahead of the elections, many polls predicted the AfD on 12 percent or above.

While the party performed below its expectations nationwide, it managed to become the strongest party in the eastern states of Brandenburg and Saxony.

This article has been adapted from its original source.    

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