Merz to be Germany's next chancellor, Scholz suffered historic defeat

The opposition conservative leader Friedrich Merz has emerged victorious in the German Federal Elections and the results will mark a significant shift in Germany's political landscape.German Chancellor Olaf Scholz acknowledged his party’s defeat on Sunday and congratulated Friedrich Merz."This is a bitter election result for the Social Democratic Party, it is also an electoral defeat," Scholz said in his first remarks after the vote. "Congratulations on the election result," he said, addressing Merz.
According  public broadcaster ARD, Merz led CDU/CSU bloc has garnered 28.8% of the vote, followed by 20.2% for the Alternative for Germany (AfD).The Social Democrats (SPD) suffered their worst result since World War II, winning 16.5 per cent of the vote.The Greens won 12 per cent, and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) hovered around the 5 per cent threshold required to enter parliament. The far-left Die Linke party gained 9 per cent, while the breakaway leftist party BSW, led by Sahra Wagenknecht, reached 5 per cent.
Winner Friedrich Merz has vowed to rule Europe's largest economy by returning to his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party's conservative roots, ease restraints on business and crack down on immigration. A long-time rival of centrist ex-chancellor Angela Merkel within the CDU party, Merz has attacked her open-door migrant policy and drawn her ire for accepting support from the far-right AfD on the flashpoint issue in parliament. Polls had long declared Merz – despite lukewarm personal approval ratings – the strong favourite to oust Scholz and bring an end to what Merz labels "three lost years" for Germany.Among his toughest pledges is to shut German borders to undocumented migrants, even if they seek asylum and to detain those awaiting deportation.  Merz has vowed a "zero tolerance" law-and-order drive, to reverse marijuana legalisation, limit "woke" policies and gender-sensitive language and study a return to nuclear power.