Why Germany’s Center Just Might Hold
Bloomberg Originals explores the causes behind the nation’s political crisis, and how outside forces may affect the outcome of its snap election.
Germans on Sunday will finally head to the ballot box following a fraught election campaign that further exposed the country’s deep divides on key issues from immigration to the economy. With seven main parties jostling for power and global unease over how one—the far-right AfD—is polling in second place, the political landscape is more fragmented than ever.
Last November, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz triggered the snap election after months of infighting between his left-leaning Social Democrats, the Greens and the Free Democrats. The collapse of Germany’s government added fresh political turmoil to the country’s economic troubles, driven by manufacturing job losses and soaring energy costs. In this Bloomberg Originals mini-documentary, we explain how Germany arrived at this moment, what happens if the vote isn’t decisive and how outside events may prompt Germany, and indeed Europe, to choose unity over disarray.