welcome
BBC

BBC

World

World

German elections: Who's who and why this vote is important

BBC
Summary
Nutrition label

74% Informative

German voters will decide on their next parliament from 08:00-18:00 on 23 February .

Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats ( CDU ) are up to 10 points ahead in the polls.

He has promised to restrict immigration, cut taxes and slash welfare spending in a bid to kickstart Germany 's faltering economy.

There are five candidates for Germany 's next parliament, the Bundestag .

If the biggest party can secure a coalition deal, the president will usually nominate its leader as chancellor.

Habeck, 55 , has taken a strong line on aid for Ukraine and criticised Merz for relying on AfD votes.

Sahra Wagenknecht presents herself as an alternative to the AfD , backing strict limits on asylum and immigration.

But she may struggle to reach the 5% national threshold to get into parliament.

VR Score

78

Informative language

77

Neutral language

24

Article tone

semi-formal

Language

English

Language complexity

44

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

Source diversity

1

Affiliate links

no affiliate links