President Donald Trump has congratulated Germany’s center-right party, the Christian Democrats (CDU), for their recent electoral victory in Germany’s parliamentary elections.
Germany’s elections were held at the order of the former President Olaf Scholz from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) after his governmental coalition began to break down.
President Trump called the CDU’s victory a “great day for Germany" via his Truth social platform.
“MUCH LIKE THE USA, THE PEOPLE OF GERMANY GOT TIRED OF THE NO COMMON SENSE AGENDA, ESPECIALLY ON ENERGY AND IMMIGRATION, THAT HAS PREVAILED FOR SO MANY YEARS,” wrote Trump.
Germany’s conservative party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), came in at close second and even surpassed the SPD.
AfD has experienced a recent surge in popularity given Germany’s immigration, economic, and energy security problems.
Together, the two right-wing parties make up more than half of the German bundestag, i.e., parliament.
Germany’s democratic system enables parties to combine their votes in order to reach the required 315 seat-majority to rule.
However, CDU leader Friedrich Merz has ruled out a potential coalition with AfD and is opting instead to coalesce with SPD, whose ideology is deeply progressive.
Moreover, Merz has sought to distance himself from the US and criticized Trump’s administration for “election interference” by supporting AfD during the election.
Merz reportedly claimed that his priority once he gains control of parliament is to "strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that we can achieve real independence from the US step by step".
A CDU-SPD coalition would prevent AfD from forming part of Germany’s government, and the latter has criticized the former by underscoring how the CDU and SPD’s electoral performance are historically underwhelming.
“The CDU achieved the second worst result in the history of the Federal Republic, the SPD the worst result since the Reichstag elections of 1887 in the German Empire - at that time it was still called the Socialist Workers' Party,” reads a post election AfD statement.
