Election
German election in the balance
Germany’s mainstream political parties lost support while the far-right AfD gained ground in one of the last polls published before Sunday’s election, pointing to likely tricky coalition building that could drag on for months. The vote comes at an awkward moment, leaving a leadership vacuum at the heart of Europe just as it seeks to tackle a confrontational US Donald Trump, whose apparent desire to disengage from the region and mend ties with Russia raises questions about the solidity of the western alliance. Election frontrunner Friedrich Merz, the head of the conservative CDU/CSU bloc, warned on Friday that while Germany’s future lay in the West, it was not clear that the West would include the United States any more.
