Provisional results confirm that mainstream conservatives led by Friedrich Merz won Germany's national election, while a far-right party surged to become the nation’s second-largest.

Weidel said voters had delivered a “clear majority” for a coalition with the AfD, which came second, and the winning Christian Democrats (CDU). But CDU leader Friedrich Merz has ruled out a coalition with the far-right party.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Germany's Left party between them garnered the one third of seats in parliament needed to block changes to the constitution, including a loosening of the debt brake which restricts deficits to 0.