German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been re-elected for a fourth term in federal elections, exit polls suggest.
Her conservative CDU/CSU alliance has won 32.5% of the vote, remaining the largest party in Germany’s parliament, according to the ARD poll.
Its coalition partner, the social democratic SPD, has gained 20%.
Meanwhile, the AfD, a nationalist, anti-Islam party, was on track to win 13.5%, emerging as Germany’s third-strongest party.
AfD’s performance, better than what opinion poll had forecast, means that the far-right party will have a seat at the Bundestag for the first time.
Mrs Merkel will now have to form a coalition government, a process that could take months.
