EVEN AS COUNTING continues in Germany’s election, three things are clear. The first is that the opposition conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), along with their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), have won a clear victory—if an underwhelming one, with less than 30% of the vote. That paves the way for their candidate, Friedrich Merz (pictured), to take over from Olaf Scholz as chancellor after coalition talks. The second is that the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has surged to its best-ever score, with around 20%, a result that will roughly double its number of seats in the Bundestag. The party appears to have performed exceptionally well in its eastern strongholds. Alice Weidel, the party’s co-leader, hailed the “historic success”. The third is the extraordinary turnout. Some 84% of eligible Germans cast a ballot, the highest figure since reunification 35 years ago.