Seán Clarke

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Jakub Krupa |Helen Livingstone |Seán Clarke |Kate Connolly |Jennifer Rankin

Jubilant AfD's Weidel hails historic result, says she got congratulations from Elon MuskBerlin correspondentJubilant Alice Weidel, and Tino Chrupalla, leaders of the AfD, speaking to the press in Berlin just now, said it was high time the media stopped “pulling us through the cocoa” – a reference to associating the party with fascism. A confident and beaming Weidel once again predicted the party would take over the CDU in elections in the next few years, and would “bring order to Germany”.

1 month ago | theguardian.com | Helen Livingstone |Maya Yang |Jakub Krupa |Ashifa Kassam |Kate Connolly |Ajit Niranjan | +5 more

What do we know at 10pm German timeLatest exit poll update The conservative CDU/CSU is on course to win the German federal election and form a new government, with its leader Friedrich Merz expected to lead it in a coalition arrangement that would most likely involve the SPD and potentially the Greens as the third party, if needed.

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Alex Clark |Seán Clarke

Who will form the new government? A key question for Germany, its neighbours and trade partners, is what coalition deal can be done after the election. Germany’s electoral system is meticulously proportional, so it’s very unlikely that any party will be able to govern alone. Friedrich Merz is leader of the CDU/CSU conservative alliance, who are polling at nearly 30%, so the chancellorship is very much his to lose.