The Social Democrats’ victory in Germany’s election Sunday heralded a changing of the guard and a significant blow to the Christian Democrats, the party of outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel.
It also ushered in what could be a prolonged period of uncertainty. No party in Germany’s fragmented political landscape emerged with a governing majority, so parties will now jockey to form a coalition. Smaller parties will play kingmaker.
Support our journalism. Subscribe today ArrowRight
Germany’s Social Democrats narrowly defeat Angela Merkel’s party, according to preliminary results
Olaf Scholz, the Social Democrats’ chancellor candidate, has indicated he prefers the so-called traffic light coalition, which would bring together the Social Democrats (red), the liberal Free Democrats (yellow) and the Greens. But both the center-left Social Democrats and the Greens have significant ideological differences with the laissez-faire positions of the Free Democrats.
Advertisement
Story continues below advertisement
Germany isn’t the only country where marriages of convenience are a standard feature of electoral politics. As political parties cast aside old rivalries to seize power, numerous odd-couple pairings have formed, some more successfully than others.
Germany enters a period of post-Merkel uncertainty
Israel
In Israel, a governing coalition formed in June united ardent supporters of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and staunch advocates of an autonomous Palestinian state. Incorporating eight parties from across the political spectrum, the alliance includes factions with strong commitments to Orthodox Jews, others who believe government should be strictly secular, and, for the first time, an Arab Islamist party.
Story continues below advertisement
They shared one goal — the ouster of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and little else.
Opponents of the divisive former leader cheered the unlikely alliance’s installation in June, and congratulatory messages flooded in from Washington.
After more than a decade, Israelis wake up to a government without Netanyahu
Since taking power, the new government has lifted restrictions on blood donations by gay men and pursued an investigation into an April stampede at a religious event, among other actions. In early August, it fired on targets in Lebanon where Palestinian groups had launched rockets into Israel, in what was seen as a test for the new ruling coalition.
Advertisement
But the government has skirted the thorny question of Palestinian statehood, on which parties in the coalition have conflicting positions. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s unusual trip to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in August caused internal tensions, underscoring the coalition’s fragility.
Ireland
The coalition government that formed last year in Ireland was the first to unite two parties whose rivalry dates back nearly 100 years: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
Story continues below advertisement
After Ireland became a self-governing republic in 1922, civil war broke out between factions that supported a treaty that meant it would remain part of the British Commonwealth, and those that wanted full independence. Fianna Fáil was born out of the anti-treaty movement, while Fine Gael traces its roots to the pro-treaty side. Both eventually evolved into centrist parties with fierce loyalties but few discernible policy differences.
Advertisement
For decades, the two parties took turns holding power, but political fragmentation and anger about rising inequality means that their dominance is no longer guaranteed. A record number of voters turned out to support the left-wing Sinn Féin party in 2020, and the splintering of the vote meant that no party emerged with a majority.
Ultimately, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil joined forces and banded together with the Green Party to form a governing coalition. “Today Civil War politics ends in our parliament,” Leo Varadkar, the leader of Fine Gael, declared when he announced the agreement.
Austria
When Austria’s governing coalition took shape last year, its agenda included both banning Muslim girls from wearing headscarves and a carbon tax on airplane tickets.
Story continues below advertisement
That’s because the coalition represents a marriage between the progressive, environmentally minded Green Party and the conservative People’s Party.
Advertisement
The “black-green alliance” formed in the aftermath of a corruption scandal that prompted the People’s Party to cut ties with the far-right Freedom Party, its former coalition partner, and led to the collapse of the government.
Given that the Green Party and the People’s Party are on opposite sides of the spectrum on key issues such as immigration, the move raised eyebrows. Some speculated that Sebastian Kurz, who leads the People’s Party, was hoping to rehabilitate his image, while others noted that he didn’t have many other choices for potential coalition partners.
Story continues below advertisement
By joining the coalition, the Green Party was able to get the government to adopt key policies such as a pledge to become carbon-neutral by 2040. But the People’s Party still heads most government ministries, including those overseeing immigration and the economy, while the Green Party has a much smaller portfolio and is primarily influential on environmental affairs.
Serbia
One of the oddest coalitions to form in recent years was the Alliance for Serbia, which brought together eight opposition parties that ranged from left-wing syndicalists to far-right nationalists in 2018.
Advertisement
Although they had little else in common, all objected to the way that elections in Serbia were being run and agreed to boycott the 2020 election. The coalition argued that under the ruling SNS party, the democratic process lacked integrity, public officials were abusing their positions and public broadcasters were not treating all candidates fairly.
The alliance had hoped that its boycott would be noticed by the European Union and trigger reforms. Meanwhile, officials used the coronavirus pandemic to tighten electoral laws and make it even harder to get on the ballot. Ultimately, SNS received another landslide victory, but many Serbians thought that the results were illegitimate.
The Alliance for Serbia officially disbanded in August 2020.