In the smallest town in Germany, just one out of 228 eligible voters cast their ballot for Alternative for Germany even as the far-right, anti-immigrant party’s saw historic gains elsewhere in the country during Sunday’s national election.

Friedrich Merz is set to become Germany’s next chancellor after his centre-Right Christian Democratic Union [CDU] party won the election on Sunday night.

Polls are open across Germany as the world’s third largest economy chooses a new leader to guide it through an era of febrile immigration debates and souring relations with Washington.