I have seen very little right wing from the CDU or for that matter the AfD. Those are positions on how big the size of the government should be - correctly classed Marine Le Pen belongs on the loony left for wanting to reduce the age at which one receives the pension alone.

Delighted to see that Merkel did not get away entirely with her entirely illegal dictat

Catastrophic results for Merkel. AfD at 13.5%.

Might finally cause a change of direction in Europe regarding immigration. She acted as if she was talking on behalf of the people when she invited everyone here and she paid for it dearly. Maybe other EU leaders will wisen up before their own countries see such parties occupy Parliament seats.

Has Poland been invaded yet?

Congrats to Merkel.
No personal opinion whatsoever, it's ze Germans' business, unless they decide to invade Poland or something.

How does the EF crowd feel after the news?

Saw a very good post on the sister site to this one :

So both Merkel's CDU and the SPD have had pretty much their worse showing since the war. SPD have ruled out a coalition which likely means a very shaky CDU-FDP-Green relationship which has significantly weakened Merkel. This is what happens when you allow 1.5 million migrants to enter the country without asking your voters first.

With this political landscape in Germany I guess all the plans for the grand EU reforms will have to be put on ice.

I think it's clear the winner of the day was AfD. They formed only a couple of years ago, and are now the 3rd largest party in Parliament. A clear (and natural) rebuke to Merkel's sudden "open door" migrant policy. Would be interesting to see if German politics can keep a centered path, or if this will devolve into "partisan politics" as in other countries like the US.

The FDP more than doubled their share of the vote and the second biggest increase after the AfD.
The FDP are opposed to setting a limit of how many asylum seekers are allowed to enter Germany. They also want to allow people to file for asylum from abroad.

Well the SPD could always turn around and say that ruling out a coalition did not prove popular with our voters so we have changed our policy?

If the refugee (not migrant?) issue was as important as you claim then how do you explain the FDP who are opposed to setting a limit of how many asylum seekers are allowed to enter Germany more than doubled their share of the vote?

I think the vanilla style of German politics is half the reason we saw the results we did yesterday. The two main parties, which are out of touch with the concerns of many voters, in a coalition doing what they think is best for them. Germany has been crying out for real opposition and a party holding the government to account for a long time. Whether the AfD is the answer however remains to be seen.

The FDP is an established party, their absence from the Reichstag last time out was only a blip.

The policy they propose sounds reasonable to me, and I'm fairly conservative.

PS- He did say they are in favor of setting limits on refugees.

http://www.dw.com/en/christian-lindn...icy/a-40211755

I was at the house of my German in laws yesterday. We popped a few corks of bubbly stuff as the results came in on TV.

I have avoided political stuff on German TV for some time now and watching the spectacle reminded me why. Journalists being extremely partisan, falling over the slightest inconsistencies in stuff the afd people were saying but being blind to far bigger gaps in the logic of the other guests.

One of the green ladies said something like, the AfD have said we need to get our country back. She was pleased they only got13 percent of the vote. That shows 87 percent don't want that. Freudian slide somewhat. I was surprised nobody picked up on that.

And then the conjectures about the potential coalition began. The SPD were quick to say they didn't want to return to power. So quick in fact that that decision must have been made beforehand. One of the reasons was that they don't want afd to be the biggest opposition party. That means Merkel needs a coalition with the greens and FDP, but these seemed reluctant to take up the poison chalice and were accusing the SPD of sidestepping their responsibility. It was almost as if nobody actually wants to rule Germany right now.

The topic of such a coalition breaking down was also raised quite a bit, and the prospect of a second election.

Schulz was his usual unemotional self, bumbling his way through what sounded like scripted statements. Merkel managed to maintain some composure with a good portion of denial. The afd guy hardly got any statements in and when he did say something he was interrupted so much that you couldn't really follow what he as saying. The real focus of the debate seemed to be around the other smaller parties. Özdemir of the Greens was the first to have the courage to say there are other issues than the afd. He came across quite statesmanlike and we could have done with hearing more from him. in contrast to Goering Eckard who seemed on the verge of breaking into tears and once even managed to blame Orban, Brexit and Trump. The FDP guy made an unusually good impression for a party that is supposedly boring and grey saying his party was ready for government but that they were going to be tough negotiators. There were a few quite theatrical exchanges of barbs with the greens which mostly the FDP seemed to be winning.

I don't want vanilla in my rock music. I want vanilla in my politicians. I want them to keep their heads down, no drama, no controversy, and get the job done that they're being paid to do.

Same as the AfD result is only "a blip".

So you agree the FDP result proves the refugee topic was not a major factor?

BTW, if you add together the vote increases for the parties who are opposed to setting a limit of how many asylum seekers are allowed to enter Germany then it is pretty much the same as the vote increase seen by the AfD

I fully agree. But there's a difference between politicians and politics. I'm fully of the opinion that there should be as few politicians as possible whose sole job is exercising the will of the people.

No. Because it was pretty much the most major factor. And if you can't see that, then there's little point in discussing the topic further with you.

...I prefer enough to do everything that needs doing proficiently, efficiently and effectively.

Disagree there. A substantial number of people struggle to manage their own households at times, and I have little faith in their knowledge of how to run a country. I want to delegate the responsibility of that to those best equipped to fulfil the role (see caveat above), not a bunch of errand boys/ cat herders.

Despite what the media are saying, most of the AfD is not that extreme. They're definitely to the left of UKIP. In the UK, most of them would be Tories. It's a Pavlovian reaction to assume anything in Germany that's more right than the CDU and is not in Bavaria must be a Nazi.

You are entitled to your opinion but it does not align with the facts displayed by the voting results, again "if you add together the vote increases for the parties who are opposed to setting a limit of how many asylum seekers are allowed to enter Germany then it is pretty much the same as the vote increase seen by the AfD"

Some interesting analysis:

Germany: Wetin make Merkel 'market' still dey sell?