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.

Germany's businesses have been frustrated by government inaction on the stagnating economy. Sunday's national election raises hopes of a stable two-party coalition of conservatives and center-left Social Democrats,

A reform of Germany's constitutionally enshrined debt brake, which limits public borrowing, would be discussed by the leaders of the conservatives and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) in coalition talks,

Germany’s Social Democrats are taking steps to revamp their leadership as a role in a new government beckons, even though Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party slumped to its worst election result since World War II.

Following a historic election defeat for his centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday that he plans to carry out his work as head of government "properly to the end.

German voters are heading to the polls for a national election. German voters are heading to the polls Sunday for a national election. The race pits the incumbent chancellor against the opposition leader, the vice chancellor and — for the first time — a leader of a far-right party.

Financial markets rose on the likelihood of a two-party coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD, with Germany's benchmark DAX Index up 0.7%. Click to read.

Germany's opposition conservatives won the national election on Sunday, putting leader Friedrich Merz on track to be the next chancellor while the far-right Alternative for Germany came in second on its best ever result,