Mr Merz will, however, not have to rely on support from the Greens for an outright parliamentary majority, after the new BSW party founded by Sahra Wagenknecht, a former leader of the Left party, just missed the 5% threshold required to enter the lower house.
Mr Merz also took a swipe at US president Donald Trump and questioned with the NATO alliance would continue to exist.
The conservative leader also raised questions about the NATO alliance as Europe continues to reel in the wake of Mr Trump’s ‘America First’ policies.
That means Mr Merz will have to negotiate with Scholz's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) to form a coalition in talks that are likely to take months following a bruising campaign that highlighted policy differences.
Mr Merz, who has no previous experience in office, is set to take charge with Europe's largest economy ailing, its society split over migration and its security caught between a confrontational U.S. and an assertive Russia and China.
