Denver – Sanae Abdi, a member of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), won a seat in the Bundestag – the German parliament – after national elections on Sunday.
Abdi is the first Moroccan woman to successfully be elected to Germany’s legislative body. Born in Tetouan, Abdi moved to Germany to attend the Adolf Reichwein Comprehensive School in Ludenscheid. During this time, Abdi also joined the SPD in 2008, at the age of 22.
After Sunday’s elections, the SPD now holds the majority of parliamentary seats in the German legislature. SPD politicians were elected to 206 seats, translating into about 25.7% control of the Bundestag.
The center-right Union Parties (CDU/CSU) came in second with 196 seats. The center-left Green Party came in third, while the classic-liberal Free Democratic Party came in fourth.
The results showed a close race that saw the loss of the majority for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU-CSU political party. Merkel, who already stated she would not seek another bid for the chancellorship, is now acting as leader of the caretaker government until the Bundestag can appoint her successor.
SPD officials stated their intentions to nominate party veteran Olaf Scholz to the position. Scholz is currently Germany’s Minister of Finance and vice-Chancellor. Prior to these roles, he also served as an SPD Vice Deputy.
Due to the close nature of the electoral results, German politicians will likely begin negotiations in the upcoming weeks to determine party alliances and political compromises to facilitate the transition to the country’s new government.
