Merkel wins Bundestag elections

BERLIN. KAZINFORM German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU/CSU bloc has won the Bundestag elections, scoring 33% of the vote, Federal Returning Officer Dieter Sarreither, responsible for German elections, said citing the official preliminary results of the voting, TASS reports.

According to Sarreither, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) has garnered 20.5%, which is its worst-ever result. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) received 12.6% of the vote. It is followed by the Free Democratic Party (10.7%), the Left Party (9.2%) and the Green Party (8.9%).

After the results of exit polls were announced, the SPD said it planned to go into opposition, which leaves only one option for forming a ruling coalition consisting of the CDU/CSU bloc, the Free Democratic Party and the Green Party (the so-called Jamaica coalition). However, German experts say that such a government may be unstable due to contradictions over a number of key issues.

After exit polls showed that the Alternative for Germany party was third, one of its leaders Alexander Gauland said he was beginning "a hunt" for Angela Merkel's party. The chancellor, in turn, vowed to analyze the situation to win back the voters who had preferred to support the far-right instead of the CDU/CSU.