It has become customary every four years for DW Africa to conduct a nearly week-long tour of various regions in Germany to report on the federal election. This year, we’re hitting the road starting February 11, 2025 to find out what issues are most important to people on the ground.
On February 23, around 60 million Germans will head to the polls, deciding ultimately who will be steering the nation, Europe’s largest economy, for the next four years.
This election comes at a time when Germany is facing challenges over its economic slowdown, immigration laws, the rising popularity of the far-right political party AfD (Alternative for Germany), and the backlash of a series of recent attacks in the cities of Mannheim, Solingen, Magdeburg, and Aschaffenburg.
It’s the economy, cupid!
Germany’s love affair with having a balaced budget is at the heart of many election campaigns but comes at a time when the economic outlook is sending shock waves across all quarters.
Most Germans are equally worried about their country’s future, in particular the economyand the increased cost of living. Some feel that the country is in a downward spiral.
However, at least some of that negative impression can be traced back to the outgoing government’s inability last year to agree on spending targets, leaving a bad taste in voters’ mouths.
A complex electoral process
The major parties in the election — as well as some of the smaller ones — have each nominated a candidate to run for the position of chancellor, even though Germans don’t directly vote for their future leader.
This is done later through a vote among members of parliament. once it is clear which parties will be in the next Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament.
The vote on February 23 is going to be held about seven months early, following the collapse in November last year of the three-way coalition government that was formed after the 2021 election.
No one said that politics was easy — especially not in Germany.
The race to the top
Incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz is running again on behalf of the Social Democrats (SPD) but with poor approval ratings, hovering around 15%, he is unlikely to be Germany’s next leader.
The frontrunner in the race is Friedrich Merz, representing the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the CSU, with polls indicating about 30% of the vote for this bloc.
The far-right AfD has nominated its party chair Alice Weidel as its chancellor candidate, and is expecting to win about one-fifth of parliamentary seats, likely becoming the second-strongest party in the next parliament.
Outgoing economics minister Robert Habeck is the candidate for the Greens , with an approval rating of about 14%, while Jan van Aken and Heidi Reichinnek are the top candidates jointly running on behalf of the Die Linke (Left Party), which polls at around 5% of the vote.
Former finance minister Christian Lindner is also running as a candidate for Free Liberals (FDP), with current projections placing his party at around 4%.
It is important to note here that any party that falls below the mark of 5% of the proportionate vote will enter the next Bundestag. They can still qualify by winning three seats via direct mandates, though this is rare.
Team work across languages and cultures
The DW Africa team, comprised of journalists from the Kiswahili, English, Hausa, Portuguese, Amharic, and French departments, will visit the cities of Magdeburg, Berlin, Potsdam, Frankfurt, and Wolfsburg to report on developments leading up to the election.
The members of the team all have experience in covering elections both in Europe and beyond, producing content in all formats serviced by DW — online, video, radio, podcast, social media and more. They will speak to political analysts, voters, election monitoring organizations, businesses as well as first-time immigrant voters.
Beyond political implications for Germany and Europe, the reporting team will also focus on key issues for DW Africa’s audience, including the impact of the election on the Germany-Africa relations, differences between German and African voting practices and systems, immigrant perspectives on the election, and how the election will impact the rest of the world.
Join us for the ride!
Edited by: Sertan Sanderson
