"It is clear that this [the U.S.] government does not care much about the fate of Europe," says Friedrich Merz, who is set to be Germany's next chancellor.

Germany’s economy is stalled and its politics fractured. But it sees an opening for a new chancellor to lead Europe’s response to a changing America.

Maps show how every district in Germany voted. The conservative Christian Democrats have won the most seats while the far-right AfD placed second.

Germany's mainstream political parties lost support while the far-right AfD gained ground in one of the last polls published before the election on Sunday, pointing to likely tricky coalition building that could drag on for months.