Today in Germany: A roundup of the latest news on Monday

Monday's top story: Greens beat CDU in neck and neck race in Baden-Württemberg

In the state election in Baden-Württemberg, the Greens and CDU fought a close race for first place. In the end the Greens won by a narrow margin.

According to the preliminary result, the Greens came to 30.2 percent of the second votes, the Union was behind with 29.7 percent.

Therefore Green top candidate Cem Özdemir is positioned to follow in the footsteps of the states former Green Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann.

For months, his primary opponent, CDU with state leader Manuel Hagel, had led in the polls, but in the end the Greens made a rapid race to catch up.

And it's over: CDU's Hagel concedes defeat to Greens' Özdemir and invites him to form the next state government. Nothing remarkable, but a reminder that in a world of political chaos, German democracy still works quite well. www.spiegel.de/politik/deut...

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— Jeremy Cliffe (@jeremycliffe.bsky.social) 8 March 2026 at 20:19

Özdemir is set to be the first minister-president of a German state with Turkish roots. His heritage was not a big factor in the campaign.

"The next chapter won't be one that we write by ourselves but rather with a coalition partner," he said.

"It will be, it has to be a partnership of equals," he added.

After the Greens and the CDU, the AfD receives 18.8 percent of the vote, the SPD followed with significantly less at just 5.5 percent, the FDP came to 4.4 percent and the Left Party also to 4.4 percent.

Initial counts from Bavarian elections bring some surprises

Many mayoral and district council elections in Bavaria will go to run-off elections in two weeks.

First and foremost being the mayoral election in Munich, where incumbent Dieter Reiter (SPD) faced significant losses in the first round of voting.

Six years ago, he had won 47.9 percent in the first round of voting. Now, according to the preliminary result, he got just 35.6 percent. On his heels was Dominik Krause of the Greens with 29.5 percent. 

The elections in Nuremberg and Augsburg, and in many district administrations, will also not be determined until March 22. In the mayoral election in Bamberg, the former Bavarian Minister of Health Melanie Huml (CSU) missed the run-off.

INSIDE GERMANY: Voting beyond party lines and betting on Deutsche Bahn delays

The AfD is likely to increase its presence across the state, because this time marks the first elections in which the party had its own candidates in all independent cities and districts.

But the party was not a popular choice in all the major elections: In the district administrator and mayoral elections on Sunday, there was no AfD victory anywhere.

Thousands march for women's rights in Berlin

Thousands of people demonstrated for equal rights for women on International Women's Day in Berlin on Sunday.

By the late morning a rally in Berlin-Kreuzberg was already packed. It was organised by an alliance of trade unions, associations and initiatives, and women's centres.

According to estimates by the Berlin police, the number of participants was 27,000, far more than the 10,000 organiser had expected. There were no incidents, said a police spokeswoman.

"Equality is not rocket science," read one poster in the crowd, "Man does not kill for love" said another.

Speakers criticized that violence against women is part of everyday life in Germany. 

The district chairwoman of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) in Berlin-Brandenburg, Katja Karger, accused the federal government of attacking the welfare state.

She called for women to be better protected from sexual violence in the workplace, not to restrict the right to part-time work and to stick to the 8-hour day. 

Against the background of the current developments in the Middle East, the demand for "solidarity with the resistance in Iran" was also seen on posters.

READ ALSO: Why Germany’s tax system could be putting women off marriage

Germarny overtakes China as 4th largest weapons exporter worldwide

Global weapons flows grew by almost 10 percent in the past five years, with Europe more than tripling imports, a report showed on Monday.

The surge in European countries can be explained, in part at least, by the fact they are buying in weapons to supply to Ukraine and because they are seeking to boost their own military capabilities against a perceived threat from Russia, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.

The volume of worldwide arms flows grew by 9.2 percent in the period 2021 to 2025 compared to the preceding five-year period, according to SIPRI's new report.

Germany has significantly increased its own heavy weapons exports, becoming the 4th largest weapons exporter worldwide, and overtaking China in the period from 2021 to 2025. 

It's biggest customer, receiving about a quarter of Germany's total exports is Ukraine.

SIPRI analyses trends over half-decades because a few deliveries of major contracts can tilt yearly figures.

German military limits influencers over security concerns

The German military is pumping the brakes on social media influencers in the ranks over security concerns, with tighter restrictions on taking photos and videos on bases or aboard ships.

Fears that images posted online might reveal sensitive details prompted the rules, which went into effect on February 20th, a defence ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.

"That doesn't mean there won't be any more content from, for example, well-known influencers" serving in the military, the spokeswoman said.

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Germany had embraced social media influencers in the armed forces, known as the Bundeswehr, as a way to draw interest from younger Germans and promote military careers.

Under the old rules, troops were allowed to take photos and videos at military facilities or on ships unless ordered differently by officers. Those rules have now been turned around, with soldiers now required to obtain permission, the spokeswoman said.

The Bild tabloid noted that some Bundeswehr soldiers have become social media stars in recent years, including a tank commander whose TikTok videos, posted as CinematicSergeant, have gathered nearly half a million followers.

Meteorite fragments damage homes in western Germany

Fragments from a meteorite have damaged several homes in the German state of Rhineland‑Palatinate after a dramatic fireball was seen streaking across the evening sky.

Police said reports of damage were received from a wide area, including the Hunsrück, the Eifel and the city of Koblenz, while the phenomenon was also visible in neighbouring Baden‑Württemberg.

In Koblenz, a burnt‑up fragment struck the roof of a house in the Güls district at around 7pm, punching a hole roughly the size of a football.

No one was injured as the occupants were in another room at the time, but tiles in a bedroom were damaged and debris scattered across the floor.

Police across the region were inundated with emergency calls from residents describing a bright flash or “fireball” moving at high speed, followed minutes later by loud bangs. Witnesses compared the noise to a car crash and said the object appeared far faster than an aircraft.

After initial checks, authorities ruled out a rocket or military incident. The German Weather Service confirmed the event was a meteorite, while fire crews said there was no chemical or radioactive danger.

With reporting by AFP and DPA.