Germany’s political system is set up to exclude extremists. Yet the country is waking up to a new political reality that has lurched to the right with the once outcast Alternative for Germany (AfD) party now firmly established in German politics.

Friedrich Merz looks poised to form a coalition between his center-right alliance and the center-left Social Democrats, but Germany is facing political uncertainty with an emboldened far right. The

Polls are open across Germany as the world’s third largest economy chooses a new leader to guide it through an era of febrile immigration debates and souring relations with Washington.

After Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won a plurality of seats in federal elections Sunday, party leader Friedrich Merz

Europe must seek to “achieve independence” from the United States, Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz said after his opposition conservatives won elections on Sunday, in a vote that also saw surging support for the far-right.

Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is set to return to power, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) emerging as the second-largest party, according to Feb. 23 exit polls.