2025 German Election Minute by Minute ━ The European Conservative

On Sunday, German voters are heading to the polls in Europe’s most hotly anticipated elections this year. The stakes are higher than ever as the country arrived at a crossroads: will Germans vote for four more years of much of the same by switching from one establishment party to another or finally choose an alternative path for Germany?

Much like in other European countries, Germany’s anti-establishment forces saw a huge boost in popularity in recent months, with the right-wing populist AfD projected to snatch second place with over 20% of the final vote. AfD voters feel that no other party is willing to truly face the country’s biggest problem which they identify as a mass migration-induced rise in crime, high energy prices, deindustrialization due to rushed climate policies, and the decline of free speech and other basic liberties as authorities crack down on “hate speech” and “misinformation.”

For others, the main issue is no longer any specific political challenge, but preventing the rise of AfD as the election is presented in mainstream media as a 1933-like turning point when “right-wing extremism” can reach a critical threshold. Still, the disillusionment with Germany’s ‘traffic light’ coalitions is palpable, as Chancellor Scholz’s ruling socialists (SPD), liberals (FDP), and the Greens are predicted to suffer major setbacks. Instead, a plurality of voters is expected to support Friedrich Merz’s center-right CDU, which has undertaken a gradual but steady shift toward the right during the campaign, especially when it comes to migration and climate.

The biggest post-election question will be whether the German Bundestag’s infamous firewall against the AfD will hold. The CDU has ruled out any coalition with the national conservative party (despite two-thirds of Germans backing some form of cooperation between the two), but the extent to which the second-largest party could be excluded from decision-making will depend on the final composition of the parliament.

Follow this page to get live updates throughout the election day as well as check out our social media channels for on-the-ground reporting and interviews directly from our team in Berlin. For now, read Javier Villamor’s curtain-opener on the biggest issues, the latest polling data, and a profile of the top candidates vying to be the next German Chancellor.

We are on the ground in Berlin to deliver you updates throughout election day, so be sure to follow us on social media and check our website for more German news and analyses at https://t.co/TCoUjE2F73. #germanelection pic.twitter.com/ZPXcfre5uL

— The European Conservative (@EuroConOfficial) February 22, 2025

2 p.m. Saturday—Interior Minister Condemns Islamist Stabbing at Holocaust Memorial

On Saturday, police sealed off Berlin’s famous Holocaust memorial site following a stabbing the night before that left a 30-year-old Spanish tourist severely wounded and now in a medically induced coma. The suspect was arrested shortly after but it took the authorities nearly a day to identify him as a 19-year-old Syrian asylum seeker because he did not speak German, and initially refused to cooperate.

The police subsequently established that there was a “religious motivation” behind the attack, and revealed that the suspect had been planning to kill Jewish people “for several weeks.” Apart from the weapon, he carried a prayer mat and a copy of the Quran in his backpack.

The attack is just the latest incident of the recent series of Islamist attacks in the country. The last of these took place just one week ago when a radicalized 24-year-old migrant drove his car into a crowd in Munich, wounding 36 and killing two, including a two-year-old child.

Just one day before the election, these attacks only add to the bitterness that Germans feel towards the Scholz government, whom they often blame for not protecting them. Although socialist (SPD) Interior Minister Nancy Faeser condemned the attack as an “abhorrent and brutal crime” and promised to “use all means” to deport violent offenders to their home countries, it’s unlikely that the remarks will boost the governing parties’ electoral chances at this point.