A detailed look at the results reveals a divided nation increasingly drifting to fringes as dissatisfaction with mainstream parties mounts

• German election 2025: results in full

German voters yearning for a steady hand in troubled times handed a clear victory to the conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz in Sunday’s watershed election, punishing the centre-left-led alliance of Olaf Scholz.

But a closer look at the results of the snap election, triggered when Scholz’s government collapsed in acrimony in November, reveals a divided nation increasingly drifting to the fringes as dissatisfaction with the mainstream parties mounts.