Germany's mainstream conservatives have won the country's national election, while a far-right party surged to become the country's second-largest party.

That paves the way for their candidate, Friedrich Merz (pictured), to take over from Olaf Scholz as chancellor after coalition talks. The second was that the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) had surged to its best-ever score,

According to the exit polls and partial counting, Merz’s Union bloc garnered around 28.5% votes, while the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany's support was projected to be 20.5%.

Friedrich Merz's conservative party is the winner of the German general election, while current Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party experienced its worst result since the late 19th century.

Friedrich Merz is on course to become post-World War II Germany’s 10th chancellor, the culmination of a yearslong political career that was once sidelined by his party’s iconic leader