Germany voted

Merz: “It will be good” ++ Hoeneß speaks plainly about the AfD

(Bild: The Associated Press)

The polling stations in Germany have been closed since 6 pm - and the first official forecasts are already available. According to these, the social democratic SPD led by former Chancellor Olaf Scholz was literally overrun by the conservative CDU led by Friedrich Merz. The right-wing AfD with top candidate Alice Weidel is in second place. With the krone.at live ticker, you won't miss a thing!

The most important facts in a nutshell:

• Rush to polling stations: According to the Federal Returning Officer, the turnout at 2 pm was 52 percent. In 2021, it was "only" 36.5 percent at this time. 

• There was an incident at a polling station in Krefeld. A man threatened a passer-by with a knife. The police arrived. 

• At a polling station in a school in Rostock, walls were smeared with swastikas and slogans such as "Fuck Antifa". 

• The FDP does not allow reporters to attend the election party: "There is a television to broadcast it," the party announced.
•  Climate activists march in front of the CDU party headquarters shortly before the election.

Forming a government is likely to take time
However, forming a government is likely to take longer. Depending on the outcome of the election, between four and seven parliamentary groups could enter parliament. Clear majorities for one of the traditional political camps in Germany - center-right and center-left - no longer exist.

According to estimates by the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, between three and four million Germans live abroad, of which around 239,500 live in Austria. However, not all of them are eligible to vote. By Thursday, the Federal Returning Officer had been informed of around 213,000 entries of Germans living abroad in the electoral registers of the local authorities. The municipal authorities of the last main place of residence in Germany are responsible for the electoral roll. The German embassy in Vienna was therefore unable to provide any information on the number of German citizens entitled to vote in Austria when asked by APA.