Armin Laschet, candidate for German chancellor from the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union blocs, congratulated his rival, candidate from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) Olaf Scholz, on his election victory. It was reported on Wednesday, September 29, by the AFP agency in Twitter.
As specifies the publication Welt, earlier the SPD candidate was also congratulated by the leader of the Bavarian CSU Markus Söder.
Parliamentary elections in Germany were held on September 26. After 16 years in power, Angela Merkel did not run for elections.
According to the published data, the SPD won the elections, gaining 25.7% of the vote, the second place was taken by the CDU / CSU – 24.1%. In third place is the Green Party with 14.8%, followed by the Free Democratic Party (FDP) with 11.5%, and in fifth place is the Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 10.3%.
The German CEC clarified that the new parliament will have 735 deputies. Thus, the SPD will take 206 seats, the CDU / CSU – 196, and the Green Party – 118 seats.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov noted on September 27 that Moscow is watching the results of the elections to the Bundestag with great attention and counts on the continuity of Berlin’s course in bilateral relations.
A day later, Andrei Klimov, a member of the Federation Council’s foreign affairs committee, said that the SPD’s victory in the elections to the German Bundestag inspired “cautious optimism.” According to the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the EU Vladimir Chizhov, Moscow does not expect radical changes in the FRG’s policy towards Russia.