Who is Germany’s election winner and how will he fare against AfD leader Alice Weidel? - Friedrich Merz has taken aim at the US and says Europe must stand up for itself

The German conservatives will return to the Government in Germany after a three-year hiatus after winning the general elections this Sunday, but they will be forced to quickly form a coalition in a turbulent geopolitical moment and govern with a stronger far-right opposition than ever.

The leading candidate, Friedrich Merz, a conservative who has adopted many of the AfD’s hard-line positions on immigration, used his closing statement of the debate to promise his voters that he would never allow the AfD into his government. Under him, he said, the firewall would hold.

One in five voters in the German election favored the far right. The AfD leader’s dramatic rise terrifies many of the others.

Gemany's far-right AFD leader Alice Weidel enjoyed the vocal support of several international far-right figures ahead of this Sunday's legislative elections in which her party scored its

Alice Weidel, has vowed to "chase" the country's other parties if her party goes into opposition. The CDU/CSU centre-right bloc is leading according to initial projects, and its leader Friedrich Merz has repeatedly ruled out a coalition with the AfD.

As an openly gay politician who lives with her Sri Lanka-born partner in Switzerland, Alice Weidel was an unusual choice to many to lead Germany's far-right and anti-immigration AfD into

Alice Weidel, the first ever candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party for the post of Chancellar, lives with her partner and two children in Switzerland.