After more than three years with Chancellor Olaf Scholz at Germany’s helm, Sunday’s election cemented the country’s lurch to the right.

German opposition leader Friedrich Merz’s conservatives have won a lackluster victory in a national election Sunday, projections show.

Exit polls in Germany show that the country's conservative union of the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CDU/CSU), with CDU leader Friedrich Merz poised to take over as the country's chancellor.