Exit polls suggest that Friedrich Merz, the candidate for the conservative Christian Democrats who has vowed to bring stronger leadership in Europe, will be Germany’s next leader. The hard-right AfD party was in second place.

Friedrich Merz, a man who has never held a government role, is preparing to take the reins in Germany just as the country faces its biggest economic and diplomatic crises in decades and Europe looks urgently for a new generation of leaders for an era of transatlantic tension.