Germany Elections 2025: Germany will hold federal elections on Sunday, February 23, to elect the next chancellor. The German government collapsed last year, leading Chancellor Olaf Scholz to call a snap election.
This time the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has shown a lot of interest in the elections. He is openly supporting right-wing candidate Alice Weidel. Let’s take a look at the main contenders in this election.
1. Olaf Scholz
The 66-year-old center-left Social Democrat has been Germany’s chancellor since December 2021. He is now running for a second term. Scholz has extensive government experience, having previously served as mayor of Hamburg and Germany’s labor and finance minister.
As chancellor, Scholz initiated efforts to modernize Germany’s military following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Under his leadership, Germany became the second-largest supplier of arms to Ukraine. His government also worked to prevent an energy crisis and tackle high inflation.
2. Friedrich Merz
The 69-year-old German opposition leader is currently leading the election campaign. His right-wing Union bloc has gained a lead in the polls. After long-time Chancellor Angela Merkel stepped down in 2021, Merz became the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
During his campaign, Merz has focused on preventing irregular migration as the main issue. However, he lacks extensive government experience. He entered the European Parliament in 1989 and became a German MP five years later.
After 2009, he took a long break from active politics, working as a lawyer and leading the supervisory board of the German branch of BlackRock.
3. Robert Habeck
Habeck, 55, is Germany’s current vice-chancellor and minister of economy and climate. As co-leader of the Greens from 2018 to 2022, he played a key role in boosting the party’s popularity.
In 2021, he stepped down to allow Annalena Baerbock – now Germany’s foreign minister – to become the party’s first candidate for chancellor. Habeck’s record as minister has been mixed. His ministry’s plan to replace fossil fuel heating systems with green alternatives caused deep divisions within the government.
4. Alice Weidel
Weidel, 46, is running for Germany’s top job for the first time as a candidate for the right-wing, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD). An economist by profession, Weidel joined the party shortly after it was founded in 2013.
She has served as co-leader of the party’s parliamentary group since 2017, when the AfD first won seats in the national legislature. Weidel is also co-leader of the AfD with Tino Chrupalla from 2022. In December, she was officially nominated as the party’s candidate for chancellor.
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