Germans are to have a new centre-right and liberal coalition government following elections on Sunday (27 Septemebr). But the results of the vote mean the new coalition may not be any easier for returning Chancellor Angela Merkel to manage than the outgoing government of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats.
"We have reached our election goal of a stable majority for a new government," said a victorious Ms Merkel on Sunday, as the results mean that her preferred coalition could be formed without having to rely on controversial "overhang" mandates - votes given to an individual rather than a party.
However, the centre-right performed relatively poorly at the polls, meaning that Ms Merkel's continued reign is largely thanks to the record performance by the free-market liberals of the Free Democratic Party (FDP).
Early results on Sunday evening gave the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) 33.6 percent - the poorest showing at the polls for over 60 years - while the liberals gained five percent over the last elections to secure a result of 14.6 percent.
The Social Democrats, in power for the last four years with Mrs Merkel, saw their worst performance since 1949, receiving 23.1 percent of the vote.
The far left Die Linke managed to haul in 12.1 percent of the vote, a record for the relatively new party, while the Greens received 10.5 percent, according to results by German public television ARD. Around 6 percent of Germans voted for a series of minor parties including the far-right NPD, which failed to make the five percent threshold for getting a seat in parliament.
German papers noted that the centre-right acknowledged their middling result by constantly repeating that they had realised their "goal of the election."