Friedrich Merz's conservatives (Christian Democrats) have won Germany's elections, getting 28.6% of the votes. "Let's celebrate tonight and in the morning we'll get to work," Merz told cheering supporters.

His immediate priority will be to try to get his CDU/CSU centre-right alliance to form a government with the third-placed Social Democrats (SPD) of Olaf Scholz. The SPD, however, got its worst result ever, with 16.4%.

The second party is the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD). Just 12 years after it was founded, it has become the second largest political force in Germany.

With around 20% of the vote, it almost doubled its result from the last German election in 2021.

A clear, nice result was that of Die Linke (The Left), which defied all expectations by winning 8.5% of the vote. 

German voters came out in big numbers, with an 83% turnout not seen since before reunification in 1990.