The pressure is piling up on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left coalition after its bruising defeat in the European Parliament elections, as the three parties together secured less than a third of the vote.
The main opposition conservatives, the CDU/CSU alliance, came out on top, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) placed second - despite the anti-Islam and anti-immigrant party being embroiled in a series of scandals, official figures showed on Monday.
Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) saw their worst result in a nationwide democratic election in more than 130 years at 13.9%, a humiliation that was raising questions about the future of his government.
The next few weeks will now show whether Scholz's ailing coalition - where internal squabbling among ministers has repeatedly resulted in very public spats - can find new focus.
The three coalition parties together only achieved 31% in the election, compared to 51% in the 2021 German national parliamentary elections. All three coalition parties trailed the scandal-plagued far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Scholz initially remained silent on the results on Sunday evening and strolled through the election party at the SPD's Berlin headquarters as if nothing had happened.
Coalition rejects early election calls
On Monday, Scholz had his government spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, brush aside calls from the opposition for snap early elections.
The chancellor later acknowledged that "the election result was bad for all governing parties," but left unanswered questions about whether he took personal responsibility.
Instead, he said that the government must go to work moving the country forward and making Germany more modern.
"No one is well advised to simply go back to business as usual," Scholz said.
Leaders from Scholz's coalition partners, the Greens and the pro-business liberal Free Democrats (FDP), also pledged to stick with the government and rejected early elections.
"We have a joint government programme, a coalition agreement that we are working on together. And as long as everyone is committed to the working basis, there is no reason to question trust," said Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the FDP.
The centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), and their Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) sister party, came away the big winners in the European Parliament vote. With 30% of the vote, the CDU/CSU finished first - and nearly beat the combined total for all of Scholz's coalition.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz called the results "a complete disaster" for Scholz's coalition, whose policies he blamed for the rise of the far-right.
Bavarian state premier Markus Söder, the CSU's chairman, called for early national parliamentary elections as soon as possible.
"Our country needs a fresh start," Söder told the broadcaster n-tv on Monday morning. "That's why there should be new elections as soon as possible."
SPD leaders defend Scholz despite defeat
During the election campaign, Scholz put himself forward as a face of his party, appearing on posters alongside lead SPD candidate Katarina Barley and receiving top billing at a number of rallies and events.
That led many to wonder if he bears responsibility for the result, the worst since before 1890 for the storied party.
SPD general secretary Kevin Kühnert defended the chancellor on Monday, arguing that things could have gone even worse without Scholz as a leading face of the campaign.
"We win together and we lose together, that is our joint election defeat," said Kühnert.
Kühnert and other SPD leaders said the party needs to do more to promote the interests of the working class following its defeat.
Budget fight brewing for coalition
That could set up a bitter fight among ministers over the shape of the 2025 budget, where major shortfalls remain unaddressed. The Cabinet is due to approve a budget proposal on July 3.
SPD leaders vowed a renewed battle over social spending and other priorities in the wake of the defeat.
"An austerity budget at the expense of social cohesion - that cannot and will not happen with the Social Democrats," Kühnert said.
The Greens also pledged to press for solutions to the country's problems in the budget, with party co-leader Omid Nouripour on Monday saying that the Greens have a "very, very clear and firm position" in budget talks.
Lindner's FDP, however, has strictly ruled out tax increases or a break from Germany's strict rules against deficit spending. He instead proposed an "update" to the coalition's social welfare policies.
Gains for far-right in local elections
The far-right AfD secured big victories in eastern states that held local elections on Sunday, parallel to the EU election.
In the state of Brandenburg, which surrounds the national capital Berlin, the AfD garnered the largest vote share at 25.7%. That is an increase of 9.8 percentage points compared to the election five years ago. The conservative CDU and SPD followed in second and third place.
In the local polls in neighbouring Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the AfD ousted the CDU from the top spot. The AfD got 25.6% of the vote, which means it almost doubled its share compared to the last local elections. The CDU came in second place at 24%.
The AfD was also projected to have made significant gains in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, which like Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was part of the former East Germany.
