The two results came on the same day reflecting the long lurking political sentiment in Germany and would probably reshape Berlin’s political landscape, some local analysts warned.
Greener outcome
The competition for the allocated 96 seats, out of the total 751 seats, in the European Parliament is being taken seriously in Germany this year compared to the previous election. A total of 41 German parties were registered for the election.
The election took place in a climate of deep uncertainty about the stability of the European Union in the wake of Brexit and the spread of the Eurosceptic sentiment. Germany, with the highest population in EU and about 64.8 million eligible voters, felt obliged to voice their opinions.
The turnout rate was between 59 to 60 percent, much higher than the 48.1 percentage five years ago.
The initial prognoses, made by the local public channel ARD, showed a surge in support for Germany’s Green Party, who won around 22 percent of the votes, doubled its 10.7 percent share in 2014.
Many voters were drawn to the Green Party’s pro-EU policies, humane stance to migration and their firm positions on climate and environment.
Seen as the biggest winner, the Greens also complied with German’s domestic call for “fresh change”, said Gu Xuewu, professor of the Institute for Political Science and Sociology of the Bonn University.
“They have fresh images and new political ideas, making it different from the long-governing parties. Thus it attracted a lot of followers, who hoped the party would bring something new,” said Gu, who has followed German politics for a long time.
Bitter results for union and SPD
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc Christian Democratic Union(CDU)/Christian Social Union(CSU) secured 28 percent of the votes, dropping from the 35.3 percent five years ago.
The CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer attributed the losses to the “sometimes unconvincing work” of the government.
“The result of the election did not comply with the union’s claim as a people’s party,” Kramp-Karrenbauer said in a press conference in Berlin.
The center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) crashed to 15.5 percent, a sharp decrease from 27.3 percent in 2014 and an all-time low result in its party history.
Local media N-TV reported the unacceptable loss could force the party to reshuffle its leadership.
SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil referred to the outcome a “disappointing result”.
The anti-migrant and anti-euro Alternative for Germany (AfD) gained ground taking 10.5 percent of the votes, an increase from its 7.1 percent in 2014.
The liberal Free Democratic Party(FDP) and the Left Party (Die Linke) both achieved 5.5 percent.
The results of each party as part of the EU polls also largely resonated their domestic performance in the research “if federal election took place this Sunday, who will you vote”, which was published by Forschungsgruppe Wahlen earlier this May.
Domino effect
German’s focus on Sunday was also on another election ran parallel in Germany’s western state of Bremen.
Although the city-state was Germany’s smallest state, its parliamentary election might send yet another shockwave to Berlin.
The preliminary results inflicted a blow to SPD, who got 24.5 percent, yielding its first position to CDU which won 25.5 percent of the votes, according to ARD. It indicated that the CDU can hope to make the governing mayor of the Hanseatic city-state for the first time.
The SPD has governed Bremen over the past 73 years non-stop and no other German state has been ruled by the same party for so long.
SPD’s setback in the state parliamentary vote plus a historical low in the EU parliamentary poll might intensify its inner struggle and could mean a reshuffle of its leadership.
SPD’s General Secretary Klingbeil said in a press conference that “the results can not be without consequences.”
German local media has already widely circulated the news that the SPD ex-leader Martin Schulz might make a comeback substituting the current leader Andrea Nahles.
The possible shake-up was long feared to be the first step of a chain reaction that SPD might quit Germany’s grand coalition in the lower house of the parliament Bundestag, consisting of SPD and its governing partner CDU/CSU, forcing Merkel to dissolve her government and start an earlier federal election.
