Already earlier during the election evening, Merz declared himself the winner, and when all 299 electoral districts had been counted late into the night on Monday, he was proven right.
The second largest became the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AFD) with 20.8 percent of the votes, the best result for a far-right party in Germany since World War II.
The Social Democratic SPD, led by incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz, suffered a catastrophic election with 16.4 percent – the worst result for the party since the 1880s.
The Green Party landed at 11.6 percent, while the Left Party Die Linke received 8.8 percent. The Liberal FDP and the left-conservative BSW both fell below the 5 percent threshold.
