With the social democrat Olaf Scholz conceding defeat to the centre right in Germany’s election, the man most likely to be named the next chancellor will be Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz. The CDU has emerged as the largest party with the far-right Alternative for Ger...
Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz,widely known asFriedrich Merz, is a seasonedGerman politicianandlawyer.Born in 1955,he is 69 years old (as of 2025) and has been a key figure inGermany’s political landscapefor decades. Amember of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU...
Merz's task will be complicated by the need to form a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats of outgoing ChancellorOlaf Scholz. He has repeatedly pledged to not work with the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party despite their second-place finish, the AfD's best resul...
Merz's task will be complicated by the need to form a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats of outgoing ChancellorOlaf Scholz. He has repeatedly pledged to not work with the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party despite their second-place finish, the AfD's best resul...
“Friedrich Merz is perhaps the most international chancellor Germany has had since the war — if he becomes chancellor,” said Volker Resing, who wrote the recently published biography “Friedrich Merz: His Path to Power.” Merz “relies on personal initiat...
In most party pairings not involving AfD, feelings have been stable or trending positive. Today, Germany is not politically polarized in the sense of a divide running through the middle. Rather, the party landscape is fractionalized, with a deep affective division between the...
left Social Democrats of outgoing ChancellorOlaf Scholz. He has repeatedly pledged to not work with the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party despite their second-place finish, the AfD's best result in a national election since the far-right party was founded just 12 years ago...
left Social Democrats of outgoing ChancellorOlaf Scholz. He has repeatedly pledged to not work with the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party despite their second-place finish, the AfD's best result in a national election since the far-right party was founded just 12 years ago...
The AfD contains a range of conservative ideologies. It is running second in polls ahead of the elections, called after the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-way coalition. Mainstream parties have said they will not work with the party, founded in 2013 and classified by ...
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