CDU crisis: Party leadership closes ranks behind Merz after state election rout
Senior Christian Democrats have backed the Chancellor at a crisis meeting in Berlin while conceding the party must change as Alternative for Germany surges in the…
Elections
Latest reporting and analysis on elections.
Berlin crime boss appears at Die Linke election party after party’s city-wide win
Issa Remmo was “pleased about Die Linke,” that he felt supported by a German party for the first time.
Putin’s United Russia sweeps Duma vote
A Just Russia was on course to drop out of parliament after falling below the 5 per cent threshold, according to partial results.
Merz refuses to change course after CDU is wiped out in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
The Christian Democrats have failed to win seats in a German State parliament for the first time in their history.
Die Linke wins Berlin election as CDU vote collapses
The far-left party has doubled its support in the German capital and could lead a new city government with the Greens and the Social Democrats.
AfD wins Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as Merz’s CDU crashes out of parliament
The right-wing party has topped the poll in the northeastern German state for the first time, ending almost three decades of Social Democrat dominance.
Austrian Social Democrats sink to record low in polls
A string of recent surveys place the SPÖ well below its result at the September 2024 National Council election, when it took 21.1 per cent.
Left bloc officially wins Swedish elections, PM resigns
About 50,000 votes separated the two blocs in a country of 10.6 million. Turnout was 84.8 per cent.
Dutch sociologist warns for serious societal upheaval due to demographic shift
The total population could nevertheless continue to increase, potentially reaching around 20 million by the middle of the century.
Ovechkin appears in Putin party campaign video days before Russian elections
The Washington Capitals captain was filmed among Kremlin figures placed under European Union sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
Le Pen puts housing and ‘national priority’ at centre of campaign launch
The National Rally leader used her first major speech of the 2027 race to promise French citizens preferential access to social housing and a cut in energy VAT.
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Swedish deadlock lays bare a voting divide spreading across Europe
Statistics Sweden put the two blocs level among voters of Swedish background and 37 percentage points apart among voters of foreign background.
Swedish opposition takes narrow lead as Sweden Democrats lose ground
Magdalena Andersson's bloc is three seats ahead in the preliminary count, though ballots cast abroad and tallied from September 16 could still overturn it.
Bulgaria’s presidential frontrunners clash over Europe and Ukraine
President Iliana Iotova has vowed to keep Sofia out of the war in Ukraine while her main rival, Andrey Gyurov, has pledged to anchor the country firmly in Europe.
Fico’s Smer party drops in Slovakian polls as nationalists surge
If a general election were held now, NMS’s voting model for daily Sme would give PS 21.6 per cent, Smer 16.2 per cent and Republika 15.6 per cent.
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BSW ready to back AfD candidate in Saxony-Anhalt as Germany’s political firewall cracks
Wagenknecht's party could hold the key to a historic vote in the eastern German state, putting Berlin’s long-standing political consensus under renewed pressure.
Trump hails AfD landslide and blames Germany’s immigration rules
The US President called the winners "the Populist Party" and signed off with MGGA, a German version of his own campaign slogan.
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German state premier Wüst breaks CDU ranks over AfD ban
Critics warn that the push could amount to an attempt to suppress a political rival that the CDU has failed to defeat at the ballot box.
Europe’s sovereigntist leaders hail AfD landslide in Saxony-Anhalt
Messages of congratulation reached Magdeburg from Madrid, Lisbon, Rome, The Hague and Budapest within hours of the first projections.
AfD sweeps Saxony-Anhalt with its best result in any German election
The party has taken more than double the vote of the governing Christian Democrats in a landslide without precedent in its history.
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Vannacci’s new party becomes Italy’s fourth force seven months after launch
Both readings place it behind only Brothers of Italy, the Democratic Party and the Five Star Movement.
Zelensky blocks Ukrainian elections again, calling a wartime vote a ‘tsunami’
The President, whose mandate ran out in 2024, has once more ruled out the ballot his ousted defence minister is demanding.
French poll puts Mélenchon in 2027 runoff as Le Pen leads
Philippe remains one of Mélenchon's closest competitors. With Attal absent from the race, Mélenchon and Philippe are both projected at 17 per cent.
Iceland’s EU accession referendum splits voters 46-46 as Brussels hopes for enlargement boost
Icelanders decide on August 29 whether to restart accession talks frozen in 2013, in a ballot the European Commission hopes will revive its stalled enlargement drive.
CDU mayor donates €10,000 to the AfD and urges conservatives to vote for it
"I have the justified concern that parts of the CDU are betraying and selling this country and their own party to the Left," Prange wrote.
Vučić points to October for Serbian snap election
The Serbian President has said the ballot will pit his ruling party against a single bloc of everyone else, though he has still not set a date for his own resignation.
French singer-turned-activist Francis Lalanne announces 2027 presidential run
He will hold his "first major campaign rally" on August 21 at the Théâtre Galabru in Paris, a roughly 100-seat venue on the Montmartre hill.
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Tusk begins bid for re-election with petrol price decrease and tax cuts
Since his government took office, pay has increased by around 30 per cent, bringing increasing numbers of people into the higher tax bracket.
Ousted defence minister calls for wartime elections in Ukraine
Mykhailo Fedorov's video address came hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out his return to the defence ministry.
Russian court jails Yabloko deputy chairman for 11 years as Supreme Court confirms election ban
The Central Election Commission struck Yabloko from the federal ballot paper on August 18, leaving 10 parties in the list contest.