German conservative right ahead of government parties in polls for European elections – Europa Viva

The right-wing conservative parties Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) in Germany, currently in opposition, lead the polls for the European elections with 30%, surpassing the political forces that make up the government.

While the parties that form the “traffic light” coalition, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the FDP Liberals continue to lose votes, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is fighting to maintain second place, despite having fallen lightly.

With just over a month to go before the European elections, which will take place in Germany on June 9th, posters from the various parties fill the streets of Berlin, most with written messages, others featuring images of party figures.

The SPD, which has 15.5% in an average of the latest polls released, and gives it third place, is betting on the image of the head of the list, Katarina Barley, with different party personalities. She even appears alongside Chancellor Olaf Scholz, asking for the “strongest” vote for Europe.

“The ‘traditional’ parties have never been brilliant at mobilizing the electorate, they focus on being close to their national parties, to the well-known figures of their parties, often failing to explain the transnational dimension of these elections”, considers researcher Sophia Russack, from European think tank CEPS (Center for European Policy Studies).

“The far right does not want participation in the European elections to increase, but at the same time they want to guarantee seats in the European Parliament and have improved their results. What they do with apparent success is campaign on social media, mainly through TikTok”, points out, in statements to the Lusa agency.

The AfD, which has been shrouded in scandals, the most recent with the head of the European list, Maximilian Krah, accused of receiving bribes from Russia, has 15.9% and appears to bring together the preferences of the younger electorate. This year, for the first time in Germany, it is possible to vote from the age of 16.

“The generations that are most likely to go to the polls are the older ones, the younger ones will go less to begin with. But this does not mean that they are more disconnected from politics, they are also the ones that protest the most in the streets, it means that they have a way different from participating in politics. But the parties don’t seem to have a strategy or a special message for younger voters”, says Endre Borbáth, from the Institute of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg.

“We see that the two parties seen by younger generations as renewing are the Greens and the AfD, and, therefore, it is not expected that this part of the electorate will vote massively, and if they vote, it will be mostly for these two parties”, explains the professor , specialist in participation analysis, in statements to Lusa.

A total of around 373 million European Union (EU) citizens have the right to vote, of which 64.9 million people live in Germany. The Federal Electoral Commission approved 35 political parties and associations for the European elections.

The two researchers interviewed by Lusa consider that the fact that the European elections are seen as secondary is gradually being reversed, with an increase in participation.

“This growth is closely related to the crises we are currently experiencing, people are afraid of being abandoned in a global context, so to speak. Importance is given to the significance of the European Union. Another reason that could justify the growth was Brexit, which was not understood as a successful project”, explains Sophia Russack from CEPS.

“The European elections are becoming transnational elections in the sense of the issues and problems they present, and also the campaigns on these same issues that the parties present. I believe that these are no exception with themes such as European integration, support for farmers, national security, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, all of this is in the sights of parties and voters”, points out Endre Borbáth.

In the 2019 European elections, the CDU, the party of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, received 28.9% of the votes with the CSU, the Greens 20.5%, the SPD 15.8% and the AfD 11%, the Left (Die Linke ) 5.5% and the FDP 5.4%.

In the average poll for the 2024 European polls, the Greens obtain 14.6%, the FDP 3.6% and Sahra Wagenknecht’s new party (BSW) 5.9%.

Germany chooses 96 deputies, the largest number of representatives.