Germany's center-left Social Democrats (SPD) won the biggest share of the vote in Sunday election, narrowly beating outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Union bloc (CDU/CSU) in a closely fought race that will determine who succeeds the long-time leader at the helm of Europe's biggest economy.
With all 299 of Germany's electoral districts reporting, the SPD won 25.7% of the vote, beating out the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the centrist-right, conservative party of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel, which posted record losses by taking 24.1%, according to the Federal Returning Officer.