Friedrich Merz looks likely to be Germany's next leader but how will he defuse the AfD?

"The chance at the chancellery Merz has been dreaming of since the 1990s has hit turbulence stemming from the country's inescapable 20th-century history."

"The strong showing for the anti-immigration, anti-Islam Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) has left the mainstream conservatives navigating a minefield as all the democratic parties have committed to a ban on cooperation with the extreme right."

"For the coalition arithmetic to add up to a majority, the CDU must now seek the strangest of bedfellows for a high-risk experiment in government."

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