Struggling a month ago, the Die Linke party surged into Parliament by riding a backlash against conservative immigration policy.

The result of Germany’s federal election on February 23 is the product of a deep political and social crisis that will lead to explosive class conflicts.

“That feeds into this whole far-right populist narrative that the mainstream parties are abandoning those areas,” Lueders said. Far-right parties, which tend to position themselves as populists standing up for ordinary people against a corrupt or co-opted elite, are well placed to appeal to people who have lost faith in the status quo.

He has vowed to prioritize European unity and the continent’s security as it grapples with the new Trump administration and Russia’s war on Ukraine.

An alliance between Friedrich Merz’s conservatives and the center-left SPD is the only viable path to form a new government for Germany.

Friedrich Merz’s party has won the most seats in Germany’s election. But after ridiculing the left and embracing far right issues, he may struggle to form a coalition.

Four candidates are running to be Germany’s next leader: incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Friedrich Merz, current Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, and Alice Weidel, of the far-right AfD.

BERLIN ― Germany’s far-left Die Linke party ― or The Left ― was struggling with declining support for years. So when its star politician, Sahra Wagenknecht, broke away at the end of 2023 to launch a new populist force, many wrote the party off for ...