Merkel wins German election by a whisker

Conservative leader Angela Merkel’s party has won the most votes in Germany’s parliamentary election, but emerged less than one percentage point ahead of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s resurgent Social Democrats, official results showed.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, won 35.2% of the vote, compared with 34.3% for the Social Democrats.

The official result reflected counting in 298 of 299 districts; voting in the final district, in the eastern city of Dresden, has been delayed until October 2 because of the death of a candidate.