Excellencies, Colleagues, Friends, dear countrymen,

thank you for accepting our invitation. We are happy that you found the time to celebrate with us and to watch together the outcome of the elections for the 21st German Bundestag.

These elections are special as they are the 4th snap elections in our modern history, after 1972, 1983 and 2005. They became necessary as our first ever coalition of 3 parties – Social democrats, Greens and liberals - broke apart because of lack of agreement on major issues as they are snap elections, time for campaigning was short, but nevertheless we witnessed for the first time attempts of surprisingly massive foreign interference.

Roughly 60 million voters are called to choose among 29 parties who compete for 630 seats. 10 out of those 29 have already been represented in the federal or in regional parliaments. Some tendencies are somewhat clear, as polls in Germany use to be pretty reliable. But it is entirely uncertain how many percent exactly the individual parties will gain and how many will cross the hurdle of 5 %. This is entirely in the hands of the voters. They make a completely free choice – a right, that quite a few people on this planet would love to have. Very likely, the next German government will be a coalition government again – if polls are correct, led by the Christian Democratic party.

How ever the new German government will look like: It will remain a guarantor for democracy, for human rights, for rule of law, with an unshakable commitment to an ever-stronger European Union and to rule based international order. It will continue joining forces with all likeminded, striving for peace, security, stability and prosperity. Germany will remain a reliable partner to allies and friends.

In a few minutes, when polling stations all over Germany close, the first exit polls will be available, which are usually quite precise. At 20.15 Berlin time – 22:15 here –the so-called Elephant’s round meet, bringing together the leaders of the major political parties, a tradition since the sixties. This will allow for a first idea on the possible new coalition.

Many thanks to the Embassy team for putting together this event.

I wish us a pleasant evening celebrating democracy!