Five key takeaways from the German election
德國選舉的五大關鍵要點

Friedrich Merz's conservatives have won, but Germany's 2025 election has thrown up some important and fascinating stories that reveal a country in flux.
弗裡德里希·梅爾茨的保守派贏了，但德國 2025 年的選舉揭示了一些重要且引人入勝的故事，顯示這個國家正處於變動之中。

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has doubled its support in just four years to 20.8%, and has spread out from its support base in the east to become the second biggest political force in parliament.
德國另類選擇黨（AfD）在短短四年內支援率翻倍，達到 20.8%，並且從東部支援基礎擴充，成為議會第二大政治力量。

Meanwhile, outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz's SPD had its worst performance in decades, only securing 16.4% of the vote.
與此同時，即將卸任的總理奧拉夫·朔爾茨所領導的社會民主黨在選舉中創下數十年來最差的成績，僅獲得 16.4%的選票。

Here are five key takeaways.
這裡有五個重點。

Look at an election results map of Germany, and you could almost have travelled back in time to the Cold War, when an iron curtain divided communist East Germany from the west.
看看德國的選舉結果地圖，你幾乎像是回到冷戰時期，當時鐵幕將共產主義的東德與西德分隔開來。

In the east it's a swathe of AfD light blue, apart from pockets like Berlin and half of Leipzig. In the west the vast majority has turned conservative black, especially in Bavaria where Merz's conservative sister party, the CSU, dominates the landscape.
東部是一片德國另類選擇黨的淺藍色，除了像柏林和萊比錫的一半這樣的區域外。西部絕大多數地區已轉為保守派的黑色，尤其在巴伐利亞，那裡梅爾茨的保守派姊妹黨基社盟主導著局勢。

But the AfD is spreading in the west too, and political loyalty to the old mainstream parties has gone.
但是在西部，德國另類選擇黨也在擴散，對傳統主流政黨的政治忠誠度已經消失了。

For one in five Germans it has become normalised. "They're just normal people," said one young man of immigrant origin in Duisburg, a city in western Germany's old industrial heartland.
對於五分之一的德國人來說，這已經變成常態。「他們只是普通人，」一位來自杜伊斯堡的年輕移民這樣說，杜伊斯堡是德國西部老工業區的中心城市。

Even though it came second, the AfD is blocked from being part of the next government because of a "firewall" - or Brandmauer - operated by Germany's main parties, who do not co-operate with any party seen as extremist since the end of World War Two.
儘管 AfD 在選舉中位居第二，但由於德國主要政黨設定的「防火牆」─或稱 Brandmauer─的阻擋，AfD 無法參與下一屆政府。這些主要政黨自二戰結束以來，從不與被視為極端主義的政黨合作。

The AfD's leader Alice Weidel insists it is a libertarian, conservative movement, not racist. Its big increase in public support has coincided with a series of deadly attacks in the past nine months, all allegedly by immigrants.
德國另類選擇黨領袖愛麗絲·魏德爾堅持該黨是一個自由意志主義、保守的運動，而非種族主義。該黨的公眾支援度大幅增加，恰逢過去九個月內發生了一系列致命攻擊事件，據稱皆由移民所為。

The AfD has embraced a highly controversial policy called "remigration", which it defines as deporting migrants who have committed crimes. But the term can also refer to the mass deportation of migrants and their descendants.
德國另類選擇黨（AfD）採納了一項極具爭議的政策，名為「再移民」，該黨將其定義為驅逐有犯罪紀錄的移民。但這個詞也可能指大規模驅逐移民及其後代。

In May 2024 a German court rejected an AfD appeal against a ruling classifying it as a suspected far-right extremist organisation. Judges found that the AfD had "positions that disparage the democratic order and are incompatible with the principle of democracy".
在 2024 年 5 月，德國法院駁回了德國另類選擇黨（AfD）對其被判定為疑似極右派極端組織的裁決提出上訴。法官認為，AfD 的立場「貶低民主秩序，且與民主原則不符」。

In three German states in the east - Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony - domestic intelligence has designated the AfD as right-wing extremist.
在德國東部的三個州——圖林根、薩克森-安哈特和薩克森——國內情報機構已將 AfD 列為右翼極端主義組織。

A leading AfD figure in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, has twice been convicted of using a banned Nazi slogan "Alles für Deutschland" - everything for Germany. Alice Weidel supporters have chanted her name during the election campaign, using the phrase "Alice für Deutschland".
圖林根的領導阿爾特黨人物比約恩·賀克，因使用被禁的納粹口號「一切為德國」而兩度被定罪。在選舉期間，支援愛麗絲·魏德爾的群眾高呼她的名字，並使用「愛麗絲為德國」這句話。

Not since 1987 has turnout been as high as 82.5% in a German election, and that was three years before reunification of east and west.
自從 1987 年以來，德國選舉的投票率從未像這次一樣高達 82.5%，那還是東西德統一前三年的事。

Four years ago it was 76.6%.
四年前是 76.6%。

Put simply, more than four in every five of Germany's 59.2 million voters turned out.
簡單來說，德國 5920 萬選民中，有超過五分之四的人參與了投票。

It reflects just how energised Germans have been by this election, which comes at a pivotal moment for their country. There were nine TV debates in the final stretch of the campaign, but that reflected the broad interest of the audience.
這次選舉讓德國人感到非常振奮，因為這是他們國家一個關鍵時刻。在競選的最後階段有九場電視辯論，這反映出觀眾廣泛的興趣。

The three-party government of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz fell apart at the end of last year, and within 24 hours of Sunday's election, all three leaders have said they're leaving the front line of politics.
去年底，即將卸任的總理奧拉夫·朔爾茨所領導的三黨聯合政府瓦解，而在週日選舉後的 24 小時內，三位領袖都表示他們將退出政壇前線。

The leader of the economic liberals, the FDP, was first. Christian Lindner has led his party for 11 years. But it failed to get any MPs elected and Lindner has said he's leaving politics after 25 years.
經濟自由黨的領袖，FDP，首先登場。克里斯蒂安·林德納領導他的黨派已有 11 年之久。但該黨未能選出任何國會議員，林德納表示，他在從政 25 年後將離開政壇。

It was Lindner's refusal to compromise on debt rules that first brought the government down, and then sent his party into the wilderness.
林德納拒絕在債務規則上妥協，首先導致政府垮台，接著讓他的政黨陷入困境。

Although Scholz will remain as chancellor until the next government is formed, he won't be taking part in coalition talks and will be leaving frontline politics.
雖然舒爾茨將繼續擔任總理直到新政府成立，但他不會參與聯合政府談判，並將退出第一線政治。

Greens Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck is also leaving frontline politics after his party fell below 12% in the election.
綠黨副主席羅伯特·哈貝克在其政黨選舉得票率低於 12%後，也將退出第一線政治。

Until a few weeks ago, the Left party looked doomed when one of its leading lights, Sahra Wagenknecht, went off and founded her own, more populist, party with eight other MPs.
直到幾週前，左派黨看似無望，當其領袖之一的薩拉·瓦根克內特帶著其他八位國會議員脫離，成立了更具民粹主義色彩的政黨。

Wagenknecht's popularity soared for a while as head of her BSW party, but ultimately fell just below the 5% threshold for getting into parliament.
瓦根克內赫特作為 BSW 黨的領袖一度人氣飆升，但最終未能達到進入議會所需的 5%門檻。

The story was very different for the Left (Die Linke), which came back from the dead with an inspired social medial campaign.
左派（Die Linke）的故事就大不相同了，他們靠著一場充滿靈感的社群媒體活動，從死寂中強勢回歸。

Heidi Reichinnek, Die Linke's co-chair, went viral after she gave a speech enthusiastically defending the firewall against the AfD.
海蒂·萊辛內克，左翼黨的共同主席，在她熱情捍衛對抗德國另類選擇黨的防火牆的演講後，在網路上迅速走紅。

She now has 580,000 followers on TikTok and her post has attracted seven million views.
她在 TikTok 上的粉絲現在有 58 萬，她的貼文已經吸引了 700 萬次觀看。

Her party secured just under 9% of the vote.
她的政黨獲得了將近 9%的選票。

Die Linke's viral videos helped secure a quarter of the 18-24 vote, and the AfD were not far behind with 21%, according to surveys by ARD TV.
左翼黨的病毒式影片幫助他們獲得了 18 到 24 歲選民的四分之一票，根據 ARD 電視台的調查，德國另類選擇黨以 21%緊追在後。

Alice Weidel was the biggest hit on social media during the election, even bigger than Heidi Reichinnek. She has attracted more than 935,000 followers on TikTok.
選舉期間，愛麗絲·魏德爾在社交媒體上的聲勢遠超過海蒂·萊欣內克。她在 TikTok 上吸引了超過 935,000 名粉絲。

For the over-35s, it was the Christian Democrats who won out, and more men than women.
對於 35 歲以上的人來說，是基督教民主黨勝出，而且男性比女性多。