German Elections: back to the future or into the unknown?
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2041905817744633 |
| Author | Charles Lees |
28 POLITICAL INSIGHT • DECEMBER 2017
On September 24 2017 Federal
elections were held to elect
the 19th Bundestag since the
foundation of the German
Federal Republic in 1949. The overall
outcome of the election – the effective
re-election of Angela Merkel for a fourth
successive term as Federal Chancellor –
was not a great surprise. Merkel’s electoral
modus operandi is to position herself
and the Christian democratic CDU that
she leads on political terrain that would
normally belong to her opponents. At
first glance this strategy, described by the
German political scientist Manfred Schmidt
as ‘asymmetric demobilization’ (Schmidt,
German Elections:
back to the future or
into the unknown?
Few surprises were expected in Germany’s federal elections. On the
day, Angela Merkel won a fourth term in power. But the far-right
emerged as a powerful force, raising questions about the future of the
Germany’s post-war political model. Charles Lees rep orts.
2014), appeared to have worked again.
With 33 per cent of the popular vote, the
CDU and their Bavarian sister party the
CSU continued to command a plurality of
electoral support and their main rival, the
social democratic SPD, had been soundly
beaten with only just over 20 per cent of
the vote – a historic low.
But the reality was more complex and
Merkel’s victory was qualified by three
factors. First, the CDU/CSU suffered an 8.6
per cent drop in support compared with
the previous election and its 33 per cent
vote share was its worst performance since
© Press Association
Political Insight December 2017.indd 28 03/11/2017 10:54
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