For Angela Merkel, the leader of Germany’s Christian Democrats, the grip on power is slowly slipping away. Right until Sunday, it seemed a no-brainer that Ms Merkel would be the next German chancellor, the first woman ever to hold this job. The only uncertainty was over the kind of coalition she would be heading.

Even when the first exit polls showing the CDU’s disappointing results came through on Sunday evening, Ms Merkel still seemed headed for the top job. It took a few hours for the daunting political reality of the election results to sink in. Ms Merkel’s CDU ended up with a meagre score of 35.2 per cent, one of the worst results in the party’s history. The party had expected between 40 and 42 per cent. The race to become the next German chancellor is now wide open.