Published March 3, 2025last updated March 3, 2025Most of Germany’s major political parties are due to hold press conferences to discuss the aftermath of the election. The SPD has won Hamburg state elections. DW rounds up the latest.
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Despite their win, the SPD’s result in Hamburg was done from its 2020 level.Image: Georg Wendt/dpa/picture allianceSkip next section What you need to knowWhat you need to knowPreliminary coalition talks between the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), its Bavarian sister party the CSU, and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) will continue on Monday.
Likely future chancellor, CDU leader Friedrich Merz said he hopes to have formed a government by Easter, which takes place in late April.
At the same time, the SPD has managed to hold on to its stronghold of Hamburg in state elections.
Here are the latest developments following Germany’s federal election on Monday, March 3:
Skip next section CDU pays tribute to beloved former state premier VogelMarch 3, 2025
CDU pays tribute to beloved former state premier VogelThe CDU mourned late lawmaker Bernhard Vogel, who died on Monday at the age of 92. A “historically unique” state leader, as former CDU Chancellor Angela Merkel called him.
Vogel not only served as a state premier for the longest time in German history, he was the only person to lead a state in what was West Germany at the time before holding the same post in a former East German state.
He led Rhineland-Palatinate from 1976 to 1988, before moving to Thuringia in the east and serving there from 1992 to 2003.
A dedicated public servant for decades, he also held high positions at the European Parliament and at public broadcaster ZDF. His brother, Hans-Jochen Vogel, was an SPD lawmaker who served as mayor of both Berlin and Munich.
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Skip next section How does coalition building work?March 3, 2025
How does coalition building work?A government in Germany must represent 50% of voters. Theoretically, if a single party managed to reach that hurdle, it could govern on its own. However, that has never happened in the country’s postwar history.
Instead, the party that wins the most votes usually seeks out coalition partners in order to reach that 50%. In this case, the CDU/CSU bloc vowed not to work with the far-right AfD, who came in second, leaving a coalition with SPD as the only realistic option.
The coalition of Germany’s traditionally center-left and center-right parties will require weeks of negotiations to create a policy platform that satisfies both parties.
Another element of the coalition talks is deciding which party gets to take over which cabinet post. Traditionally, the candidate of the party gaining the most votes will become chancellor and the leading candidate of the junior coalition partner is often tapped to become foreign minister.
Once a “coalition contract” is approved by both parties, the leader of the senior partner — the CDU’s Friedrich Merz in this case — will be invited to form a government.
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Skip next section SPD holds on to HamburgMarch 3, 2025
SPD holds on to HamburgThe city of Hamburg will remain “in good hands,” incumbent Mayor Peter Tschentscher wrote on social media while attending a Ukraine summit in London.
Despite a drubbing in the recent federal election, the SPD emerged as the strongest party in Hamburg’s state election, long a stronghold of theirs. Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is a former mayor of Hamburg.
Preliminary results put the SPD on 33% of the vote, a drop of six percentage points on their 2020 result in the city-state.
The CDU surged from 11% in the last vote to 20% to come in second. They were followed by the Greens at nearly 18%. After that came the Left at 11% and the AfD at 7.5%.
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Skip next section What is happening in German politics on Monday?March 3, 2025
What is happening in German politics on Monday?Exploratory coalition talks between the CDU, its Bavarian sister party the CSU, and the SPD will continue .
Despite traditionally being rivals and having governed together somewhat unhappily during former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s tenure, the two parties have agreed to try and form a coalition after the CDU ruled out working with the far-right Alternative for Germany. The CDU came first in Germany’s snap election on February 23 with 28.5% of the vote and the AfD second with 20%.
The SPD, the party of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, came third with a postwar-low of 16.4%.
CDU leader and likely future chancellor Friedrich Merz is due to give a press conference in the afternoon. Press conferences are also expected from the environmentalist Green party, which tumbled in the polls, and the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP). The FDP pulled out of a governing coalition with the SPD and Greens in November over a budget dispute, and failed to gain the necessary 5% of the vote to enter the Bundestag.
The Left Party, which did surprisingly well in the federal election with 8.7% of the vote, will also hold a press conference, as will the SPD.
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