German Chancellor Olaf Scholz casts his vote at a polling station in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, during the German national election. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

- Election posters, showing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, and CDU top candidate Friedrich Merz, stand on a meadow in Nieder-Erlenbach near Frankfurt, Germany, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, and German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck chat during the cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/E

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz waves to applause after giving a speech at a special party convention in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/, File)

Germany's mainstream conservatives have won the country's national election, while a far-right party surged to become the country's second-largest party.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has not ordered a state of emergency in Germany over the US’s bilateral peace negotiations with Russia, despite the claim spreading widely across social platforms. Users on X,

The far-right had its strongest showing since World War II, while the center-left Social Democrats had their worst postwar result.

Germany faces its second change of leader in less than four years after the head of the center-right opposition won Sunday’s election.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat for his centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) after what he called “a bitter election result” on Sunday. Exit polls showed his party finishing in third place, taking just 16 per cent of the votes, with its worst postwar result in a national parliamentary election.

Friedrich Merz's CDU party emerged as the largest party in Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, earning 28.6% of the vote.

The German chancellor, who defied calls to step aside after his government fell apart, is down in the polls but insisting he can still win.