German election: CDU/CSU bloc wins

The conservative Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) have gained the highest percentage of seats in the German election with 28.5%, early results after the votes were counted show.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) were the runners-up with 20.8% and coming in third were the center-left Social Democrats with 16.4%.

However, the election of Germany's new chancellor by the Bundestag won't take place until a governing coalition has been formed. This could take months.

CDU/CSU candidate Friedrich Merz is now be the frontrunner to succeed Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Merz has already claimed victory, urging "independence" from the US.

"I never thought that I would ever need to say something like that, on television, but after the latest statements made by Donald Trump last week, it is clear, that the Americans — at any case these Americans, this administration — mostly don't care about the fate of Europe one way or another," the CDU leader said during a post-election panel airing on state broadcaster ARD.

"We have won this and we've won it clearly," he said. "I will now attempt to form a government which represents the entire republic and which will tackle the country's problems."

He said he would prefer one coalition partner instead of two.

Chancellor Scholz acknowledged the "election defeat" and described his party's performance as a "bitter election result."

Green Party lead candidate Robert Habeck defended his party's projected 13% of the vote as "respectable," reasoning that the Greens "haven't collapsed" like the other coalition parties, the SPD and the FDP.

AfD Alice Weidel said the party is prepared to enter a coalition government.

Weidel claimed that the CDU, which has vowed not to form a coalition with her party, have effectively adopted most of the AfD's manifesto.

"They're going to have to explain to their voters how they're going to implement those promises while working with left-wing parties. If they form a government with the SPD and Greens, then interim chancellor Merz won't last four years."