After all the results were counted, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) declared victory as the smaller parties did not pass the threshold to enter parliament.

Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its leader Friedrich Mertz came first in the 23 February elections with 28% of the vote, reports Euronews.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party came second with 20%, doubling its vote share from Germany's last election in 2021 and giving the party its best result in the country since World War II.

Smaller parties failed to pass the 5% threshold needed to enter the Bundestag, including the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (ASV).

For hours, preliminary results showed that the AVS had managed to pass the threshold - a result that would have seriously complicated Merz's desire to form a two-party coalition government.

In the end, the ASV received 4.97% of the vote, while the far-left Die Linke party took advantage of its last-minute success to win 8% of the vote.

Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD) came third with 16% of the vote - the party's worst result since 1887. | BGNES