In Berlin, they are in the process of negotiating the terms of a new government. There is little doubt that the Conservative Friedrich Merz will be Germany's next Chancellor, most probably in a coalition with the heavily humiliated Social Democrats of the outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
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But the tasks ahead: rebooting the economy, migration and dealing with the new world under Donald Trump, will be challenging to say the least. Such are the divisions here that the turnout was the highest ever in a united Germany, at over 82 percent.
Friedrich Merz's conservatives won with 208 seats in the 630-seat
Alternative for Germany, or AfD, had the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II, coming second with 152.
All three parties in the former governing coalition lost seats, with the centre-left Social Democrats falling to 120 seats, the Greens to 85 and the Liberal Party losing all its seats. While the Left Party surged to 64 seats.
None of the other parties are willing to talk to AfD.
If the conservatives partner with the Social Democrats, they'll exceed the 316 needed for a majority. Merz says solving the country's problems would eradicate AfD.
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