The federal elections held in Germany on February 23 had 630 seats in the Bundestag as their prize. A solid turnout, 83 per cent of the 59.2 million electorate cast their votes for 29 political parties.

Of these contenders most will include the term ‘Christian’, ‘Democratic’, and of course ‘Party’. To make things more difficult the 29 party names will appear as acronyms.

Now that clarifies things, we can move on to the actual winners in this proportional representative joust for power in an indisputable colony of the United States.

Both Elon Musk senior advisor to Donald Trump and Vice-President of the United States JD Vance put their weight behind what the Press Barons describe as ‘the far right’ anti-migration Alternative for Germany Party co-led by Alice Weidel.

“We have achieved a historic result. Never before have we been so strong throughout the country. We have become the second strongest party, and we have now secured our status as a people’s party,” TASS quotes her as saying.

The AfD has doubled the number of its seats in the Bundestag which makes Weidel’s party a big hitter on future policy. Weidel stated that AfD with 20.8 per cent of the vote (1​50 seats) is ready to participate in the formation of the German cabinet.

Commendable but in the shadow of the Christian-Democrat CDU/CSU ​coalition which with 28.6 per cent (209 seats) emerged as the clear winner.

This will be no easy matter. The Christian Democrats led by Friedrich Merz vow to put blue water between the CDU and the AfD. 

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social-Democratic Party captured 16.4% (109 seats) of the vote; its worst showing since 1949. Equally humbled were the Greens who made a showing with 12.3 per cent of the vote. The other contenders can be airily dismissed as also-rans.

Although mainstream claims the issues were the economy, migration and security this is wide of the mark.

Who says so? None other than Friedrich Merz the new German chancellor and leader of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU).

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s head of state will be tongue in cheek if he congratulates Merz. In essence, the German electorate voted for Olaf Scholz Mk 2 with bells on.

A socially conservative chancellor, Merz describes his stance as economic liberalism. This much is to be expected of a 69-year-old multimillionaire who has the charisma of a dead fish and whose curriculum vitae describes him as a corporate lawyer and banker.

Confusingly, given this period of a rift developing between US President Trump and the European Union, Merz describes himself as a transatlanticist.

A staunch supporter of both the current European Union and NATO who supports the concept of ‘an army for Europe’.  Good luck with such an unfeasible notion.

To his credit or a canny ploy to steal votes from the AfD, Merz was a fervent critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door migration policy.

Surely a vote winner, Merz is opposed to immigration from the Near East. He rejects the notion of accepting Palestinian refugees and calls for remigration to Syria and Afghanistan.

A taster, Friedric Merz says Germany already has enough anti-Semitic young men in the country.

When it comes to foreign policy; i.e., Russia and China, Friedrich Merz follows the Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) doctrine of ‘walk softly but carry a big stick, you will go far’.

Following the Kremlin’s Special Operation launched in February 2022 aimed at securing Ukraine’s eastern regions, Merz put his weight behind Kyiv and personally met the unelected and likely unelectable Volodymyr Zelensky.

Germany’s newest chancellor demanded that Chancellor Olaf Scholz deliver the 300-mile range Taurus Cruise Missiles. He did backtrack adding that the supply of such missiles would depend on Putin complying with EU demands. Good luck with that one too.

Friedrich Merz promises to rebuild Germany’s economy, limit migration, cut taxes and social security spending, and increase support for Ukraine.

Hungarian political expert Georg Spötle expressed the opinion that relations between Germany and Russia will deteriorate. Merz, as Spötle notes, is anti-Russian and pro-sanctions.

Russian Senator Alexei Pushkov says “The German economy will continue to decline, problems with migrants will remain, and the majority of German voters, who stubbornly vote for politicians leading Germany to decline, apparently haven’t had enough of problems, so Germany has room to fall.”

The final analysis: Friedrich Merz promises to form a fresh government by April 20^th, which happens to be the date of birth of Adolf Hitler.

Due to anti-Russian sanctions, German industry (There has been zero economic growth for 2 years) will continue to decline. German relations with Russia will remain frosty, and Donald Trump will let Germany ‘just get on with it’.

Given the firepower of the AfD Alice Weidel gives the incoming CDU/SPD coalition a shelf life of 24 months after which the electorate will get behind the AfD. TELL US WHAT YOU THINK

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