Out of Order

Transatlantic Take: Germany's Post-Merkel Election Results

Listen on

Episode notes

After 16 years in power, the Christian Democrats without Angela Merkel have reaped historically bad results in Sunday’s election. All the votes have been tallied and the Social Democrats have come out on top, but with only 25.7% of the vote they will need to get both the Greens and the Liberals on board for a coalition. But other coalition options are also in play, including the “Jamaica” coalition that would return the Christian Democrats to the Chancellery. Rachel Tausendfreund, GMF’s editorial director based in Berlin talks Germany’s election results, future coalition possibilities, and the implications for the “traffic light” or the “Jamaica” coalition for European and transatlantic priorities with Markus Ziener, GMF’s Helmut Schmidt Fellow, and Peter Sparding, GMF fellow and resident Germany expert.