German elections: back to the future or into the unknown?

The vagaries of Germany’s mixed member proportional electoral system mean that the 19th Bundestag is the biggest ever, with 709 members – an increase of 79 over the previous 2013 intake. Despite this increase, the two main catch-all parties both suffered significant reductions in their parliamentary groups. In addition, the AfD’s 94 parliamentarians made it the third biggest grouping in the Bundestag. Given Germany’s troubled past, the presence of the AfD in the Bundestag is highly significant and worrying for many Germans. As we shall discuss later, it also further complicates Merkel’s problems in forming a viable and stable coalition government.