Now comes the hard part. Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) topped outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s long-reigning Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in federal elections on Sunday. While the margin wasn’t huge—the left-leaning SPD took 25.7 percent of the vote relative to the conservative CDU’s 24.1 percent—it was the latter party’s worst performance ever, and sets the stage for protracted coalition negotiations (which we mapped out before the vote) that could lead to the country’s first three-party ruling partnership. So what could Germany’s next government look like? And what will it mean for Europe and the wider world? Our experts capture the zeitgeist.
FAST THINKING: Germany’s ‘messy’ post-Merkel moment – Atlantic Council
