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 on its best result to date, projected results showed.
Following a campaign marred by a series of violent attacks and interventions by the United States administration, the conservative CDU/CSU bloc won 28.7 per cent of the vote, followed by the AfD with 19.8 per cent, public broadcaster ZDF projected.
Merz, 69, told supporters: "Tonight we will celebrate, and from tomorrow we start working ... The world out there is not waiting for us."
He is heading into what are likely to be lengthy coalition talks without a strong negotiating hand.
CDU/CSU is a centre-right Christian democratic and conservative political alliance of two political parties in Germany — the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union in Bavaria.
While CDU/CSU emerged as the largest bloc in the parliamentary election, it scored its second-worst post-war result.
It remains unclear whether Merz will need one or two partners to form a majority.
A three-way coalition would likely be much more complex, hampering Germany's ability to show clear leadership.
All of the mainstream parties have ruled out working with the AfD.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) tumbled to their worst result since World War Two, with 16.4 per cent of the vote share, according to the ZDF projection, while the Greens were on 12.3 per cent and the far left Die Linke party on 8.9 per cent of the vote.
The pro-market Free Democrats (FDP) and newcomer Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) party hovered around the 5 per cent threshold to enter parliament.
Merz has no previous government experience but has promised to provide greater leadership than Scholz and to liaise more with key allies, restoring Germany to the heart of Europe.
He also conditionally supports equipping Ukraine with longer-range Taurus missiles, a step Scholz's government shied away from, and considers Europe as firmly anchored in NATO.
Coalition negotiations are certain to be tricky, especially after a campaign that exposed sharp divisions over migration and how to deal with the AfD in a country where far-right politics carry a particularly strong stigma due to its Nazi past.
That could leave Scholz in a caretaker role for months, delaying urgently needed policies to revive Europe's largest economy after two consecutive years of contraction and as companies struggle against global rivals.
Germans are more pessimistic about their living standards now than at any time since the financial crisis in 2008.
Attitudes towards migration have also hardened, a profound shift in German public sentiment since its 'refugees welcome' culture during Europe's migrant crisis in 2015, that the AfD has both driven and harnessed.
Far-right AfD makes history
The 12-year-old AfD party took second place for the first time in a national election, according to the exit polls.
"This is a historic result for us," AfD co-leader Alice Weidel said as party supporters waved German flags in celebration.
"We are open to coalition negotiations ... otherwise, there will be no change in policy possible in Germany."
Support for the AfD, along with a small but significant vote share for the far left and the decline of Germany's big-tent parties, is increasingly complicating the formation of coalitions and governance.
Australia
Argentina 
Austria 
Brazil 
Canada 
Chile 
Czechia 
France 
Germany 
Greece 
Italy 
Mexico 
New Zealand 
Nigeria 
Norway 
Poland 
Portugal 
Sweden 
Switzerland 
United Kingdom 
United States 
