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Ger­man op­po­si­tion leader Friedrich Merz’s con­ser­v­a­tives were on course for a lack­lus­ter vic­to­ry in a na­tion­al elec­tion Sun­day, while Al­ter­na­tive for Ger­many near­ly dou­bled its sup­port, the strongest show­ing for a far-right par­ty since World War II, pro­jec­tions showed.

Chan­cel­lor Olaf Scholz con­ced­ed de­feat for his cen­ter-left So­cial De­moc­rats af­ter what he called “a bit­ter elec­tion re­sult.” Pro­jec­tions for ARD and ZDF pub­lic tele­vi­sion showed his par­ty fin­ish­ing in third place with its worst post­war re­sult in a na­tion­al par­lia­men­tary elec­tion.

Merz vowed to move quick­ly to put to­geth­er a coali­tion gov­ern­ment. But it wasn’t im­me­di­ate­ly clear how easy that will be.