Germany's likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz told Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu that he would invite him to Germany in defiance of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Israeli prime minister's office said on Monday.

The Christian Democrats won with 28.6% of the vote while the far-right Alternative for Germany came second with 20.8%.

Outgoing German chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded the election and decried the historic gains of the far-right conservative party, AfD. Early exit polls show AfD is headed for second place, while opposition leader Friedrich Merz’s conservatives are in the lead and Scholz’s party fell to third.