The AfD came second in the election, the best performance by a far-right party since World War Two.
Its polling strength is a setback for Merz’s conservative alliance, which wanted to win back voters from the party.The Ipsos poll showed support for outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) unchanged at 15%.
The centre-left SPD are in talks with the CDU/CSU to form Germany’s next government, with the two sides forced to iron out their differences in policy areas such as tax and migration to keep the far right out of power.
The talks are expected to conclude later on Wednesday, sources told Reuters.
AfD leader Alice Weidel hailed her party’s polling breakthrough in a post on X. “The people want political change – and not a ‘business as usual’ coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD,” she wrote.
The AfD is the strongest force in Germany for the first time after surveys! At 25 % we are one percentage point ahead of CDU/CSU. Citizens want the political change – and no “further” coalition from the Union and SPD! pic.twitter.com/VqgvNjMRZg
– Alice Weidel (@alice_weidel) April 9, 2025