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German elections

The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, carries the Torah scroll during the inauguration ceremony of the rooms of the first military rabbinate of the German Armed Forces Bundeswehr in Berlin, Germany, on July 4, 2024. (RALF HIRSCHBERGER/AFP/File)
September 25, 2026, 8:48 pm
Jewish group urges far-left vote winners in Berlin to tackle antisemitism
Top German Jewish leader Josef Schuster says incoming mayor’s stance against antisemitism is not even shared by ‘large majority’ in her Die Linke party
By Céline LE PRIOUX
German Chancellor and leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Friedrich Merz addresses a press conference, one day after state elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Berlin on September 21, 2026. (Jens SCHLUETER/AFP)
September 21, 2026, 7:24 pm
Merz defiant after huge defeats in 2 state elections, says Germany’s ‘democratic future’ at stake, Jewish life ‘no longer safe’
Leading far-right candidate predicts chancellor ‘won’t make it to the end of the year’; Merz cancels trip to UN, as his junior coalition partner says ‘things can’t go on’
By Frank Zeller
The Die Linke (Left Party’s) main candidate Elif Eralp celebrates on stage following exit polls in Berlin’s state elections in Festsaal Kreuzberg in Berlin on September 20, 2026. (Jens SCHLUETER/AFP)
September 21, 2026, 7:23 pm
Far-left Elif Eralp set to become Berlin mayor, as her Die Linke party tops elections
Daughter of Turkish migrants calls Mamdani ‘great role model,’ says she wants to foster city’s Jewish life; recent party campaign concert featured performer’s ‘Death to the IDF’ chants, call for intidfada
By Pierrick Yvon
AfD party leader Alice Weidel, center, walks behind top candidates Leif-Erik Holm and Kristin Brinker before a press conference of the “Alternative for Germany” (AfD) in Berlin, Germany, after the previous day's two state elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, September 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
September 21, 2026, 7:23 pm
Far-right AfD tops a German state election for second time in a month; Merz rues ‘disaster’
AfD wins almost 40% in eastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania; party seen by Jewish groups as harboring antisemitism leads in national opinion polls but has been kept from power by the other main parties’ refusal to work with it
By Oliver Denzer and James Mackenzie
Elif Eralp, mayoral candidate for Die Linke in the upcoming regional elections, addresses supporters during a campaign stop in Berlin, August 29, 2026. (Ralf Hirschberger/AFP)
September 18, 2026, 10:39 am
First they take Manhattan? Looking to mimic Mamdani, far left’s Elif Eralp eyes Berlin City Hall
Jewish community wary as Die Linke party’s mayoral candidate vows to fight antisemitism ahead of September 20 election; critics claim she can’t even control it within her own party
By Joshua Schultheis
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party’s top candidate for regional elections Ulrich Siegmund gives a speech during the AfD’s regional congress in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on April 11, 2026. (RONNY HARTMANN/AFP)
September 5, 2026, 1:07 pm
German far-right AfD party’s projected win puts Jews between the left and a hard place
Populist Alternative for Germany faces accusations of antisemitism as it’s poised to win big in Sunday’s elections in state of Saxony-Anhalt. What does it bode for a beleaguered Jewish community?
By Joshua Schultheis
Friedrich Merz reacts after he was not elected new chancellor in the first voting process at the parliament Bundestag in Berlin, May 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
May 6, 2025, 3:19 pm
Friedrich Merz’s bid to be German chancellor fails in parliament in stunning defeat
Conservative CDU leader loses first-round vote by narrow margin as coalition wobbles; far-right AfD gains ground as Trump officials express support
By STEFANIE DAZIO and Kirsten Grieshaber
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, meets Germany's then-opposition leader, now Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, February 12, 2024. (Kobi Gideon / GPO)
February 24, 2025, 5:31 am
Netanyahu, Sa’ar congratulate German conservatives leader on election victory
Merz is a staunch supporter of Israel; has vowed to remove restrictions on weapons shipments, criticized the ICC arrest warrant against PM
By ToI Staff
Friedrich Merz, leader of Germany's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and his party's main candidate for Chancellor, addresses supporters in Berlin after the first exit polls in the German general elections were announced on TV, February 23, 2025. (Ina Fassbender/AFP)
February 24, 2025, 3:31 am
Conservatives win German vote, far-right comes 2nd with strongest result since WWII
Likely chancellor Merz accuses Trump of being ‘largely indifferent to the fate of Europe’; AfD makes record gains but all other parties have vowed to keep it out of power
By Agencies
Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party candidate for chancellor Alice Weidel, second from left, and other top party officials applaud after German television publishes the first exit polls in the German general elections, during the electoral evening in Berlin, Germany, February 23, 2025. (Soeren Stache / Pool / AFP)
February 23, 2025, 9:20 pm
German exit polls give conservatives lead, as far right has best post-war showing
Chancellor Olaf Scholz bemoans his Social Democrats’ ‘bitter’ result, congratulates Friedrich Merz, whose coalition prospects are uncertain due to ‘fire-wall’ around AfD
By Agencies
Supporters of the far-right AfD party sing the national anthem as they attend an election campaign rally of the party for the upcoming state elections in Suhl, Germany, August 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
February 23, 2025, 2:33 pm
Germany’s rising far-right AfD is split over Israel. Jews call party ‘a danger’ either way
With the party deeply divided over support of the Jewish state and poised to take 20% of the national vote Sunday, its past — and ongoing — record of antisemitism looms largest
By Bart Schut
A ballot box is sealed with the electoral seal of the German State of Bavaria in Memmelsdorf, Germany, Feb. 23, 2025, during the national election. (Pia Bayer/dpa via AP)
February 23, 2025, 10:31 am
Germans head to voting booths with far-right expected to surge
Polls predict Alternative for Germany party set to become second largest in Bundestag, but other factions vow to boycott it
By Geir Moulson
An election poster showing AfD top candidate for chancellor Alice Weidel is fixed on a lamp pole in Frankfurt, Germany, February 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
February 21, 2025, 5:06 am
German Jews express alarm after JD Vance helps boost far-right party before election
Head of Jewish federation warns ‘Jewish life in Germany would be in danger’ if AfD comes to power, as ‘Holocaust deniers and antisemites feel at home’ in the party
By Toby Axelrod
US tech billionaire and businessman Elon Musk (L) is seen on a large screen as Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, addresses an election campaign rally in Halle, eastern Germany on January 25, 2025. (AFP)
February 16, 2025, 3:47 pm
Germany’s far-right AfD party, shunned by Berlin, basks in Elon Musk’s spotlight
Billionaire Trump confidant insults Chancellor Scholz and lavishes endorsements on far-right party, which commands some 20% in polls, as Germany barrels toward Feb. 23 election
By Frank Zeller and Femke COLBORNE
Yad Vashem director Dani Dayan on January 9, 2025, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)
January 27, 2025, 12:48 pm
‘Insult to victims of Nazism’: Yad Vashem head condemns Musk speech to German far-right
Dani Dayan says failure to acknowledge Germany’s past is clear danger to its democratic future after prominent Trump ally tells AfD rally there’s too much focus on ‘past guilt’
By ToI Staff
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