Will seek good US ties: Merz; Kyiv 'must be part of peace negotiations'

German conservative election winner Friedrich Merz said on Monday that he would seek good ties with the United States under President Donald Trump but was also ready for "the worst-case scenario".

- Agence France-Presse

BERLIN: Germany's conservative election winner Friedrich Merz said on Monday that the surge of the far-right AfD to 20.8% voter support was "the last warning" to the country's mainstream parties.

The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) scored its best-ever result in Sunday's election after a campaign marred by a spate of deadly car-ramming and stabbing attacks blamed on migrants.

Merz, of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), has vowed a crackdown on immigration and a "zero tolerance" law and order drive to ease public fears and win back voters drifting to the far-right party.

"This is really the last warning to the political parties of the democratic centre in Germany to come to joint solutions," Merz said at a Berlin press conference.

Merz pointed to the especially strong gains of the far-right party in the ex-communist east, the AfD's heartland, which in post-election maps was bathed in blue, the AfD's party colour.