Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives triumphed in Germany's election Sunday, but finished just short of an absolute majority.
Final results give Ms. Merkel's Christian Democrats 41.5 percent of the vote, finishing only five seats short of an absolute majority in the lower house.
She likely will have to seek a grand coalition with the Social Democrats, who won about 26 percent of the vote.
Ms. Merkel's preferred liberal partners, the Free Democrats, won only 4.8 percent of the vote, falling short of the 5 percent need to win seats in parliament.
"This is a super result," Ms. Merkel told cheering supporters. "We will do everything together in the next four years to make them successful years for Germany."