And yet it is anything but guaranteed how party chairman Friedrich Merz can govern a country in which the far-right Alternative for Germany comes second, polarization hits record levels, and parliamentary fragmentation inhibits coalition-building.

Germany holds its snap national election on Sunday following the collapse of Olaf Scholz's three-way coalition, and the coalition that emerges will face huge challenges, from reviving a flagging economy to forging a foreign policy amid the unpredictability of a new U.