Photo Gallery A Turning Point for Germany
First: The right-wing populists with the AfD will now enter the Bundestag as the third-strongest party, with not a few far-right extremists among their ranks. The AfD will do all it can to re-enter parliament in four years' time -- and for that to happen, German society must remain divided. Pictured here is Alexander Gauland, the AfD's co-lead candidate in Sunday's election.
Second: Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), have lost a significant number of voters. That won't prevent Merkel from a fourth term in office, but it will make forming a government coalition that much more complicated.
Third: Germany's big-tent parties -- the CDU led by Angela Merkel and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Martin Schulz -- have recorded their weakest combined result in six decades. Germany's party system is fragmenting further.
Fourth: The SPD has collapsed, or rather: It has collapsed even further after an already poor showing in 2009 (23 percent) and 2013 (25.7 percent) elections. Its years in government as junior partner to the CDU has reduced this once proud party to being Merkel's minions in parliament.
Fifth: The Free Democratic Party (FDP) is back. Its success is a token of voter faith: The pro-business party must not allow itself to be dominated by the CDU as it did when it was Merkel's junior coalition partner during her second term, from 2009 to 2013.
Sixth: The Left Party has remained stable, but it still has no prospect of entering into government -- and the rise of the right-wing populist AfD means that it can no longer claim to be the only haven for Germany's protest voters.
Seven: The strong showing by the right-wing populist AfD is a particular headache for the Bavarian conservatives, the Christian Social Union, led by Horst Seehofer, which saw support fall to 38.5 percent -- it's worst result since the first postwar German election in 1949.
Eight: A new polarization in parliament, a potential new coalition model in government and an SPD that is likely to lead the opposition? Put together, all this might provide an opportunity for a political renewal in Germany.
