Friedrich Merz and his party won, Elon Musk didn’t seem to move voters, and more lessons from an early German vote with big implications for Europe.

German voters are heading to the polls for a national election. German voters are heading to the polls Sunday for a national election. The race pits the incumbent chancellor against the opposition leader, the vice chancellor and — for the first time — a leader of a far-right party.

The far-right had its strongest showing since World War II, while the center-left Social Democrats had their worst postwar result.