Germany announces final results of Feb. 23 general elections

BERLIN

Germany’s Federal Electoral Committee on Friday announced the final results of the Feb. 23 general elections, saying the overall election outcome and the distribution of seats in the new Bundestag (parliament) remained unchanged.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) together got 28.5%, the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) 20.8%, and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) 16.4%.

The Greens won 11.6% and The Left (Die Linke) 8.8%. The liberal Free Democrats (FDP) were eliminated from the Bundestag with 4.3%, below the 5% threshold, as well the populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party with 4.98%.

In terms of seats, this translates to: CDU/CSU 208, AfD 152, SPD 120, Greens 85, The Left 64, and SSW 1.

The BSW was not the only party to experience minimal changes in the absolute number of valid second votes. For example, the CDU gained 1,674 votes, the SPD 840, and the AfD 1,632. In contrast, the FDP lost 121 votes.

These changes were primarily the result of corrections to the preliminary second vote results in Lower Saxony (up 3,271), Bavaria (up 932), and Baden-Wurttemberg (up 912).