Day after Germany voted the centre left Social Democrats in power ending the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian partner, the Christian Social Union (CSU) rule, the German Ambassador to India Walter J Lindner in an interview to Indian media said, “New German government expected to continue strong ties with India.”
His comment came at a backdrop as the new coalition government is set to form in Germany after Sunday’s election.
During the discussion, the German Ambassador further stressed that global issues like Climate change, trade issues, terrorism, COVID-19 vaccination among others cannot be worked upon without India.
“The Indo-Pacific is becoming more and more important and India has emerged as a major player in the region,” Ambassador Walter J Lindner added.
The German Ambassador to India further informed that the new government in Germany is to be formed by Christmas.
In a closely fought race, SDP wins against Merkel’s center-right
Two days after Merkel announced her decision of stepping down- ending her sixteen years-long association in power as Germany’s Chancellor the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian partner, the Christian Social Union (CSU) led by Merkel narrowly lost the general elections held on Sunday.
In a closely fought race, dominated by climate change, the centre left Social Democrats according to preliminary results won the polls with 25.7% votes share, paving their way to form a government first time since 2005. While the Merkel-led ruling CDU-CSU was held behind with a 24.1% vote share.
The Greens stood third in the race for power with a 14.8% vote share, far less than what was expected by the party leaders. Whereas FDP stood fourth with an 11.5% vote share.
Greens leader Annalena Baerbock said, “We did not achieve this goal. But the significant increases are a strong mandate that the Greens should take responsibility for shaping our country. The next government has to be a climate government.”
Reacting to the results FDP leader Christian Lindner said, “The FDP achieved one of the best election results in its history. In addition, we are double-digit in two consecutive federal elections for the first time. That is a great vote of confidence.”
According to reports, both the parties (Greens and FDP) have expressed their willingness to forge an alliance with the leading candidates to form a government.
Olaf Scholz, Chancellor candidate of the SPD took to Twitter and signaled his party will likely open talks with Greens and FDP for a three-way alliance.
“Happy SPD! The voters have strengthened three parties in the federal government: FDP, Greens, and SPD. The signal: you should lead the next government. Leadership is now required,” said Olaf Scholz, Chancellor candidate of the SPD.
According to reports, the Green Party co-leader Robert Habeck during a discussion with Deutschlandfunk radio heaped praises on SPD, called it the ‘most progressive party’, seen so far.
“The SPD is, from what we’ve seen so far, the more progressive party,” Habeck said.
However, Green leader Annalena Baerbock added that her party would enter into coalition talks with all parties.
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