Scholz’s coalition suffers EU election blow – exit polls

The governing three-party bloc is showing worse results than its conservative opposition and right-wing AfD

Germany’s ruling coalition was outdistanced by its opposition in Sunday’s vote for the EU parliament, coming in behind conservatives and right-wing Alternative for Germany, projections indicated.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats (SPD) support came in at around 14%, down from their 2019 result of 15.8% and their worst result in decades, according to early forecasts for ZDF and ARD television, based on exit polls and partial counting. 

The center-right main opposition, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) are predicted to take first place with around 30%. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is a member of the CDU, the bigger of the two parties in the bloc.

Right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) could be seen coming up in second place with some 16%.

Germany (European Parliament election), Infratest dimap 11:04 PM projection:

CDU-EPP: 23.8%
AfD-NI: 15.9%
SPD-S&D: 13.9%
GRÜNE-G/EFA: 11.9%
CSU-EPP: 6.4%
BSW→NI: 6%
FDP-RE: 5.1%
LINKE-LEFT: 2.7%
FW-RE: 2.7%
Volt-G/EFA: 2.5%
...

Special election page: https://t.co/1An2baUbxh… pic.twitter.com/p0RgM24cN8

— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) June 9, 2024

The other members of Scholz’s “traffic light coalition,” the environmentalist Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP) are estimated to get around 12% and 5% respectively, marking a significant decrease in support from recent years.

The largest among the 27 member states of the EU, Germany currently holds 96 seats in the European Parliament.