Social Democrats win German election defeating Angel Merkel’s Union bloc

Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats look to have secured a narrow victory in the country’s general election held over the weekend, ending 16 years of Angela Merkel’s conservative rule.

Merkel had already said she’d step down after the poll, and will stay on in a caretaker fashion until a new government is formed.

Olaf Scholz, leader of the Social Democrats and finance minister of the country since 2018, may struggle to form a stable coalition as his preferred coalition partner the Free Democrats finished a distant third.