Omar Alkadamani, a Syrian-born, naturalised German citizen, used to support Germany's centre-left Social Democrats. Unsettled by its increasingly tough stance on migration, however, he cast his vote on Sunday for the far-left Left Party.

Germany took a huge step to the right. The conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) ran a campaign focused on law and order and halting immigration — and overtook Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) as the largest party in the Bundestag,

Sunday’s election comes as Germany and the rest of Europe grapple with the new Trump administration, the Russia-Ukraine war and security across the continent. Polls across Germany will close at 6 p.m.

Germans were voting in a national election on Sunday that is expected to restore power to Friedrich Merz's conservatives, while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is forecast to achieve its best result yet in Europe's ailing economic powerhouse.

Friedrich Merz, on course to become post-World War II Germany's 10th chancellor after the country's election, has vowed to prioritize European unity and the continent's security as it grapples with the new Trump administration and Russia's war on Ukraine.

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

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,