Elon Musk has continued his public association with Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, sending a congratulatory post on X to the party’s co-chair Alice Weidel following the election results last night in Germany.

German voters cast their ballots in Sunday’s election , with opposition leader Friedrich Merz claiming victory and Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceding defeat. Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is heading for the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II.

Financial markets rose on the likelihood of a two-party coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD, with Germany's benchmark DAX Index up 0.7%. Click to read.

Polls are open across Germany as the world’s third largest economy chooses a new leader to guide it through an era of febrile immigration debates and souring relations with Washington.

Germany’s highest-stakes election in years is paving the way for a pivot to increased spending, with markets predicting the end of an era for constrained fiscal policy.

The next German government faces calls to loosen borrowing rules, slash energy costs and spur innovation. It won’t be easy.

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has admitted his Social Democratic Party (SPD) has suffered a "bitter election result," after preliminary figures showed the party plunging to its worst performance in the country's post-war history.