Twelve Kurdish candidates, representing a range of political ideologies from center-right to far-left, ran in Germany's high-stakes elections on Sunday. Exit polls indicated that seven of these candidates garnered enough votes to secure a spot in Germany’s national parliament.
The winners comprised Cem Ince, Cansu Ozdemir, Ferat Kuchak, Mirza Edis, and Gokay Akbulut who won seats representing the Left Party. Kurdish candidate Kaseem Tahir from the Green Party also secured enough votes to enter parliament, and so did Sardar Yuksel of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Notably, this election saw center-right parties like the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), field Kurdish candidates, including one who led a party list.
The Green Party, a key player in the election, has long included Kurdish politicians in its ranks, some of whom hold significant positions. For example, Berivan Aymaz, the Deputy Speaker of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, is Kurdish and is also a candidate for the position of Mayor of Cologne.
A total of 630 seats were contested in Germany’s 2025 federal parliament elections, with over 59 million citizens eligible to vote. Preliminary results showed the CDU-CSU alliance securing 28.5 percent of the votes, marking a 4.9 percent increase compared to the 2021 election.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), known for its anti-immigration stances, gained 20.8 percent of the vote, a 9.1 percent increase compared to the previous election and the largest vote gain among all parties.
The SPD, led by former Chancellor Olaf Scholz, garnered 16.4 percent of the votes, a sharp decline of 9.7 percent from the 2021 election, making it the party with the largest loss. The Green Party secured 11.6 percent of the votes, while the Left Party won 8.7 percent.
Based on preliminary results, CDU leader Friedrich Merz is likely to become Germany’s next chancellor. However, his party remains cautious as it celebrates victory. The CDU-CSU alliance cannot form the government on its own since it will not have an absolute majority in the Bundestag. This requires them to invite peer parties into the government formation process.
