Germany's mainstream conservatives won the country's national election, while a far-right party surged to become the nation’s second-largest party, according to provisional results following Sunday’s election.

The Christian Democrat, who appeared to have a path to a stable governing coalition, hopes to lead Europe’s response to President Trump’s reshuffling of alliances.

Friedrich Merz, leader of Germany’s CDU, is set to form a coalition after winning the most votes, per exit polls. The election saw Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats (SPD) suffer a historic defeat and AfD make record gains.