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.

The leading candidate, Friedrich Merz, a conservative who has adopted many of the AfD’s hard-line positions on immigration, used his closing statement of the debate to promise his voters that he would never allow the AfD into his government. Under him, he said, the firewall would hold.

Germany's conservatives won the national election on Sunday, while the far-right Alternative for Germany came in second, its best ever result.

Concern is growing over the far-right Alternative for Germany party’s rise ahead of the German election. Its U.S. supporters include Elon Musk and JD Vance.

Provisional results confirm that mainstream conservatives led by Friedrich Merz won Germany's national election, while a far-right party surged to become the nation’s second-largest.

German conservatives under likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed on Monday to move quickly to try to form a coalition after winning the most votes in a national election that saw far-right and far-left parties gain support from disaffected voters.

Trump hailed the result as a "GREAT DAY FOR GERMANY," while the far-right AfD party that Elon Musk has championed made historic gains.

Alice Weidel, has vowed to "chase" the country's other parties if her party goes into opposition. The CDU/CSU centre-right bloc is leading according to initial projects, and its leader Friedrich Merz has repeatedly ruled out a coalition with the AfD.