According to official preliminary results, the conservative CDU/CSU bloc led by Friedrich Merz wins the early Bundestag elections with 28.6% of the vote, according to data published on the website of the German Federal Election Commission on the night of Monday, February 24.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party took second place with 20.8%, while the center-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) finished third with 16.4%. The fourth are the left-wing liberals from the Union of 90/the Greens (11.6% of the vote), the fifth are the Left Party (8.8%).

The Liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Sarah Wagenknecht's left-wing Populist Union (SSU) failed to enter the Bundestag. The former won only 4.3% of the vote, while the latter - 4.972%, with a 5% threshold for entry into parliament, according to the data of the election commission.

Thus, the mandates that the CDU/CSU and the SPD will receive should be enough to form a ruling "grand coalition".

At the same time, the current German Chancellor Olaf Scholz indicated on February 23 that he would not personally negotiate the formation of a coalition with Friedrich Merz and the CDU/CSU bloc and would not join the new government. "I ran for chancellor," he concluded. The Bild tabloid interpreted his words as a hint of resignation.

Friedrich Merz promised to form a new German government by Easter, April 21, 2025. The politician refused to talk about who could join it, but stressed that his party would not rule the country together with the AFD. dw.com.