Germany: Merkel's CDU wins European election despite worst ever result

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/25/germany-merkel-cdu-win-european-election

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The party group led by Angela Merkel, below, emerged as the overall winner in Germany, in spite of suffering its worst result in the history of European parliamentary elections. The CDU and Bavarian sister party the CSU together gained 35.4% of the vote, beating into second place the Social Democrats, with 27.2%.

In the first European elections without a 3% threshold quota, some smaller parties managed to get their first seat. In Julia Reda, Germany will provide the parliament's first Pirate party delegate, while the far-right NPD will have its first MEP, after gaining 1% of the vote – less than the Animal Rights party, which with 1.2% of the vote also gained a delegate.

The Alternative für Deutschland, which calls for a dissolution of the common currency, performed strongly in its first European elections, but not quite as strongly as early polls had indicated. With exit polls putting it at 7%, it is expected to provide seven MEPs.

Bernd Lucke, head of the AfD, said he wanted to sit with the Tories in the alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists, a move that would put strains on David Cameron's relationship with Merkel. In an interview with German news channel ZDF, Lucke said he would not enter an alliance with Ukip, "because their idea of European politics is completely different to ours".

The leftwing Die Linke looked like it would match its 2009 party record, The Social Democrats, party of EU Commission president candidate Martin Schulz, presented themselves in a buoyant mood after improving by six percentage points on their disastrous 2009 result, but Merkel's Christian Democrats have had to face criticism of their campaign strategy. The CDU's posters and flyers focused almost exclusively on the persona of the German chancellor – even though it was obvious that Merkel would never play a part in the European parliament.

Yet the CSU faces most of the blame: it will send only five MEPs to Brussels, three down on 2009. Critics accuse them of trying to mimic populist rhetoric aired by Ukip and the AfD. CSU leader Horst Seehofer said: "There are good days and other days. Today is another". Merkel was notably absent from German television screens on Sunday.