The final results of the German general election held on Sunday showed that Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU alliance emerged as the winner with 28.5% of the vote followed by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 20.80%.
Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD) ended in third place, securing 16.4%, which he called a "bitter" defeat for the ruling party. The Greens, led by Scholz's coalition partner and economy minister Robert Habeck won 12%. The Left (Die Linke) also secured a place in the Bundestag with 8.7% while the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) remained slightly below the 5% threshold required to enter the parliament, garnering 4.97%.
CDU is projected to receive 208 seats in the parliament ahead of AfD and SPD, with 151 and 121 seats respectively. The Greens will hold 85 seats in the next composition of the Bundestag while 64 seats will belong to The Left.
