00:00More than 80% of Germany's almost 60 million eligible voters cast their ballots in Sunday's
00:07federal election.
00:10Exit polls released shortly after vote counting began indicated that frontrunner CDU candidate
00:15Friedrich Merz was on course to win 28.5% of the vote.
00:20Thank you very much for the trust that you give us and that you give to me personally.
00:26I know about the responsibility.
00:29I also know about the dimension of the task that lies ahead of us.
00:33I meet it with the greatest respect and I know that it will not be easy.
00:41The big disappointment of the night was reserved for outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose
00:46party the Social Democrats secured only 16% of the vote, their lowest ever result in a
00:51federal election.
00:53This is a bitter election result for the Social Democratic Party.
00:58This is also a defeat.
01:00I think this must be said clearly and clearly at the beginning.
01:05And for me it is also very important to say that this is a result from which we have to
01:10move forward together.
01:13Far-right AfD candidate Alice Weidel is on course to win just over 20% of the vote, making
01:19significant gains and doubling their results from the last election in 2021.
01:26We have doubled our numbers.
01:28They wanted to halve our numbers.
01:31The opposite has happened.
01:33And I have to say one thing.
01:35Our hand will always be extended for a government participation.
01:42To implement the will of the people, the will of Germany.
01:48We are ready for a government participation.
01:53Friedrich Merz will be given the mandate to govern when official results are announced.
01:58Over the coming days and weeks, the CDU-CSU union candidate will engage in talks with
02:04other parties to establish a coalition and lead a new government.
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