Friedrich Merz’s CDU and the Bavarian sister party, CSU, have won the German elections, getting some 28% of the votes. The far-right AfD came in as the second largest party with some 20%, followed by the SPD (16%), Greens (12%), the Left Party (9%) and BSW (5%). At 9:00pm CET, the FDP had not made it into parliament with slightly less than the required 5% threshold. However, given how close it is, the final result could still shift the balance for BSW and FDP. The 84% voter turnout was the highest since reunification. A few important observations: the three parties of the collapsed government coalition lost some 18 ... (full story)