Germany faces its second change of leader in fewer than four years after the head of the center-right opposition, Friedrich Merz, won Sunday's election, which saw a surge for a far-right party and a stinging defeat for outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
In western Germany, which accounts for most of the country's population, AfD trailed Merz's Union and sometimes other parties too but still polled strongly on its way to 20.8% of the nationwide vote, the highest postwar score for a far-right party.
After the collapse of Scholz's three-party government in November, it's now up to Merz to restore stability to the European Union's most populous country and traditional political heavyweight, which also has the continent's biggest economy.
Merz, like Scholz, has been tightlipped so far on whether Germany might contribute to a possible peacekeeping force, suggesting that the discussion is premature.
The Left Party appealed to young voters with very liberal positions on social and migration issues and a tax-the-rich policy, backed up by a savvy social media campaign.
