Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) declared victory Sunday as exit polls and early results suggest the party garnered the biggest vote share in the country’s elections—and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is projected to nab a historic number of votes after billionaire Elon Musk’s endorsement.

The leading candidate, Friedrich Merz, a conservative who has adopted many of the AfD’s hard-line positions on immigration, used his closing statement of the debate to promise his voters that he would never allow the AfD into his government. Under him, he said, the firewall would hold.

The AfD’s rise remains a significant concern in German politics, with mainstream parties working to prevent its integration into government. While figures like JD Vance and Elon Musk have expressed strong support for the party,