Friedrich Merz’s conservatives have won Germany’s election, well ahead of rival parties but short of the 30% vote-share they had expected.
"Let’s celebrate tonight and in the morning, we’ll get to work," he told cheering supporters. His immediate priority is to try to form a government with the third-placed Social Democrats of Olaf Scholz.
Even before the result was clear, Merz said his top priority was unity in Europe, so that "step by step, we can really achieve independence from the US".
The other big winner in Sunday’s vote was the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), who are celebrating a record second-place result of 20.8%.
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