Friedrich Merz and his party won, Elon Musk didn’t seem to move voters, and more lessons from an early German vote with big implications for Europe.

Conservative leader Friedrich Merz won a lackluster victory, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded his center-left Social Democrat party’s worst postwar defeat.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) is now on course to win 20.5% of the vote, according to latest projections - but there is no way Friedrich Merz will work with it because of a long-standing political taboo against working with the far right, known as a Brandmauer - a firewall.

Germany's opposition conservatives CDU/CSU won the national election on Sunday, putting leader Friedrich Merz on track to be the next chancellor while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD)came in second,

The Sunday vote comes amid an economy in the doldrums, big questions over Europe's security posture, and a surging far-right.

An economic slump, an immigration crisis and the lifting of a security blanket provided for decades by the U.S. are issues on the minds of German voters. The far-right AfD is polling in second place.

Germany’s center-right CDU/CSU has won the February 23 parliamentary elections, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) securing second place, according to preliminary results. According to CNN,

Polls have opened in Germany's parliamentary election that was brought forward by the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz' ruling coalition in November. Polls opened at 8 a.m. and are set to close at 6 p.