Negotiators from German election winner Friedrich Merz’s conservative bloc and the center-left Social Democrats have started exploratory talks on a possible coalition government.

Hours after Friedrich Merz's conservatives won Germany's national election, he sent the outgoing Social Democrat government a memorandum dictating how to cooperate during the transition period before he took power.

Germany's conservative leader Friedrich Merz, who came out on top in the snap election results, is aiming to close a coalition agreement with outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz's SPD, which came third in the elections.