Berlin, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The anticipated next German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is set to begin the process of forming a coalition government on Monday after his conservative bloc secured victory in a national election where disillusioned voters turned to both far-right and far-left parties for support.
Merz, who is poised to assume leadership in Europe's largest economy, faces a society divided by migration issues and caught between a confrontational United States and assertive Russia and China.
The 69-year-old will engage in extensive coalition talks after the far-right achieved a historic second place, following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's unpopular three-party coalition.
Following his election win, Merz criticized the United States for its comments during the campaign, likening them to hostile Russian interventions and pledged to prioritize strengthening Europe to achieve independence from the U.S. gradually.
Merz's conservative CDU/CSU alliance secured first place with 28.6%, surpassing the far-right Alternative for Germany at 20.8%, its highest result to date.
While mainstream parties refuse to cooperate with the AfD due to extremism concerns, Merz will need to negotiate with Scholz's center-left Social Democrats (SPD) to form a coalition, a process expected to be protracted due to policy discrepancies highlighted during the campaign.
Merz, however, will not require Green party support for a parliamentary majority, as the new BSW party, founded by Sahra Wagenknecht, former Left party leader, narrowly missed the 5% threshold for entry into the lower house.