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.

The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the second largest party in parliament after Sunday's election, said Germany's likely next chancellor would be held hostage by left-wing parties that would seek to loosen tough fiscal rules.

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.

The party led by Friedrich Merz won the country's national election; the primary voter issues were the economy and immigration