Seán Clarke

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Seán Clarke |Ed Gargan |Ashley Kirk |Antonio Voce

The first results are expected after midnight. Polling has taken place in councils across England, and there have been six mayoral elections. Voters also went to the polls in a parliamentary byelection in Runcorn and Helsby. On 1 May many county councils in England are up for election. In areas with two tiers of local government, the county councils are the upper tier, with responsibility for big-budget areas such as education and social care. Some unitary authorities are also up for election.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Jakub Krupa |Helen Livingstone |Seán Clarke |Kate Connolly |Jennifer Rankin

Jubilant AfD's Weidel hails historic result, says she got congratulations from Elon MuskBerlin correspondentJubilant Alice Weidel, and Tino Chrupalla, leaders of the AfD, speaking to the press in Berlin just now, said it was high time the media stopped “pulling us through the cocoa” – a reference to associating the party with fascism. A confident and beaming Weidel once again predicted the party would take over the CDU in elections in the next few years, and would “bring order to Germany”.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Helen Livingstone |Maya Yang |Jakub Krupa |Ashifa Kassam |Kate Connolly |Ajit Niranjan | +5 more

What do we know at 10pm German timeLatest exit poll update The conservative CDU/CSU is on course to win the German federal election and form a new government, with its leader Friedrich Merz expected to lead it in a coalition arrangement that would most likely involve the SPD and potentially the Greens as the third party, if needed.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Seán Clarke |Harry W. Fischer

How the election worksIn elections to the Bundestag, or federal parliament, German voters cast two votes. The “first vote” is to elect a “direct” representative for their local constituency, much like in a British election: the candidate with the most votes wins the seat. The “second vote” is for a party list, as in many European countries. The refinement of the German system is that the overall membership of the Bundestag is designed to be proportional to the second vote.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Alex Clark |Seán Clarke

Who will form the new government? A key question for Germany, its neighbours and trade partners, is what coalition deal can be done after the election. Germany’s electoral system is meticulously proportional, so it’s very unlikely that any party will be able to govern alone. Friedrich Merz is leader of the CDU/CSU conservative alliance, who are polling at nearly 30%, so the chancellorship is very much his to lose.