Germany’s opposition conservatives won the national election on Sunday, putting leader Friedrich Merz on track to be the next chancellor while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) came in second, its best result, exit polls showed.
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Following a campaign roiled by a series of violent attacks and interventions by US President Donald Trump’s administration, the conservative CDU/CSU bloc won 28.7 per cent of the vote, followed by the AfD with 19.8 per cent, an exit poll published by public broadcaster ZDF showed.
“Tonight we will celebrate, and from tomorrow we start working. … The world out there is not waiting for us,” Merz told supporters on Sunday.
Merz, 69, has no previous government experience but has promised to provide greater leadership than Chancellor Olaf Scholz and to liaise more with major allies, restoring Germany to the heart of Europe.
A brash economic liberal who has shifted the conservatives to the right, he is considered the antithesis of former conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel, who led Germany for 16 years.
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Short of a majority in an increasingly fragmented political landscape, however, his conservatives will have to sound out partners to form a coalition.