Berlin, Sep 22

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), captured 42 percent votes in the federal elections Sunday, exit polls published by ARD television showed.

The exit polls revealed the CDU/CSU bloc secured 42 percent of votes, and the largest opposition party, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) took 26 percent, reported Xinhua.

According to the exit polls, Merkel's junior coalition partner Free Democrats (FDP) took 4.7 percent, falling short of the five-percent minimum support to enter.

The Green party, the SPD's favoured ally, captured eight percent. The Left Party got 8.5 percent votes.

"This is the bitterest moment since the founding of the FDP, we should reshape ourselves from tomorrow," general secretary Christian Lindner said.

According to the exit polls, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the election wild card founded seven months ago and called for "orderly dissolution of the euro", also failed to win enough votes to enter parliament, garnering 4.9 percent votes.

If the centre-right coalition falls short of a majority once official results are published, it could lead to a few weeks' horse-trading before the expected forming of a "grand coalition" between the CDU and the centre-left SPD.

Merkel chaired such a grand coalition during her first term in 2005-2009.

Shortly after the closure of the polling stations, Merkel told her supporters, "It's too early to say what will happen ... (but) we did really well."

By:IANS