“We will do everything we can to build a government led by the (conservative) Union,” Laschet told supporters in Berlin, adding that the vote outcome “is still totally unclear”.
Initial result estimates from Germany’s general election to pick a successor to outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday showed the Social Democrats (SPD) of Finance Minister Olaf Scholz with a narrow lead over their conservative rivals.
Preliminary results published on public television after polling stations closed at 6pm (1600 GMT) found Scholz’s SPD with around 24.9 to 25.8 percent of the vote, followed closely behind by Merkel’s Christian Democrats and their candidate Armin Laschet on 24.2 to 24.7 percent.
German SPD’s Olaf Scholz says voters want him to be ‘next chancellor’
