CDU leader Armin Laschet hopes for coalition, says SPD has no mandate to lead country after narrow victory in German election

Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Armin Laschet has claimed that no German party could view the Bundestag election results as a mandate to govern, after the Social Democratic Party (SPD) narrowly took first place.

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During a press conference in which he declared that the CDU/CSU alliance was willing to form a ‘Jamaica’ coalition with the Greens and the Free Democratic Party – which took 14.8% and 11.5% respectively – Laschet claimed that the SPD could not “derive a government mandate from this election result,” despite acknowledging that the party had come in first place with 25.7% of the vote.

CDU/CSU, on the other hand, received its worst result in history with 24.1%, losing 50 seats in the Bundestag while the SPD gained 53.

The CDU leader further added that a result of less than 30% of the vote could not be seen as representing the majority of Germans.

We are now in the phase of trying to form a stable government for Germany

Laschet also said following news of the SPD’s victory that the election results were “not one we can be happy with.”

Before Sunday’s vote, FDP leader Christian Lindner spoke in favor of the ‘Jamaica’ coalition, where the yellow, black and green colors symbolize his party plus the CDU/CSU and the Greens.

The 2021 German Bundestag election was also a blow to the Left Party and Alternative for Germany (AfD), showing a massive increase in support for the Greens. The Left lost 30 seats from the last election, while AfD lost 11 seats. The Greens gained 51 seats for a total of 118, making them the third biggest party.

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