The centre-right party's leader Friedrich Merz said CDU and SPD are to enter talks to form a coalition, one day after the German election on Sunday. View on euronews

Millions of Germans are voting in snap elections. The centre-right CDU is predicted to win the biggest share of votes, putting its leader Friedrich Merz in pole position to be next chancellor. Follow live updates.

After an election dominated by immigration and economic issues, Germany’s likely new chancellor is Friedrich Merz, the leader of the conservative Christian Democrats. His party finished first with just under 29 percent of the vote and will need to form a coalition government.

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Friedrich Merz, who led the Christian Democratic Union to victory at the polls, referred to a strong Europe independent of the United States as his “absolute priority”. Many in Brussels now expect a more stable government in Berlin will mean a stronger German leadership READ MORE : Subscribe to our channel.

Provisional results confirm that mainstream conservatives led by Friedrich Merz won Germany's national election, while a far-right party surged to become the nation’s second-largest.

The results of Germany’s February 23 election have cemented a chilling trend that has increasingly characterized European politics in the 21st century: the collapse of social democracy and the subsequent resurgence of far right parties and movements,