Exit polls suggest that the center-left Social Democratic Party(SPD) has narrowly won Germany’s national elections on Sunday to capture the chancellery for the first time in 16 years.

Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF tentatively estimated that as of 1:00 a.m. Monday, the SPD was in the lead with 25-point-eight percent of votes. Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and their Christian Social Union sister party followed with 24-point-one percent of votes.

The SPD's chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz said the predicted results were a very clear directive to ensure now that they put together a good, pragmatic government for Germany.

Meanwhile, Armin Laschet, the leader of Merkel's conservative Union bloc, vowed efforts to form a coalition led by the CSD/CSU, saying the party that wins the most votes does not necessarily produce the next chancellor.