German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a news conference at the Social Democratic Party (SPD) headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/)

- Election posters, showing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, and CDU top candidate Friedrich Merz, stand on a meadow in Nieder-Erlenbach near Frankfurt, Germany, Feb. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, and German Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck chat during the cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/E

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz waves to applause after giving a speech at a special party convention in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/, File)

Germany's Social Democratic Party faces a lack of leadership following its defeat on February 23, having garnered only 16.5% of the vote, its worst score since 1945.

Germany's mainstream conservatives have won the country's national election, while a far-right party surged to become the country's second-largest party.

The far-right had its strongest showing since World War II, while the center-left Social Democrats had their worst postwar result.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has not ordered a state of emergency in Germany over the US’s bilateral peace negotiations with Russia, despite the claim spreading widely across social platforms. Users on X,

Germany faces its second change of leader in less than four years after the head of the center-right opposition won Sunday’s election.

Friedrich Merz's CDU party emerged as the largest party in Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, earning 28.6% of the vote.

The German chancellor, who defied calls to step aside after his government fell apart, is down in the polls but insisting he can still win.