The German Finance Minister has the best shot at forming a new German government after leading his Social Democratic Party (SPD) to a narrow victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections.

While the tight result means Scholz is far from certain to become Germany's next chancellor, he is in the strongest position to start coalition talks with the Green Party, which took 14.8% of the votes, and the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) with 11.5% of the vote.

Scholz has positioned himself as a pragmatist and a safe pair of hands.

"She always governed from the center and I think he will also try to do that if he does become chancellor, but it will also depend of course on what coalition parties demand," she said.

The 63-year-old -- a life-long member of the SPD -- was born in what was then West Germany, a detail that sets him apart from Merkel, who grew up in East Germany.

Scholz served as the Labor and Social Affairs minister in Merkel's first coalition government in the late 2000s.

In 2011 he was elected mayor of Hamburg, a position he held -- with high levels of support -- until 2018.

Since then, he has served as the vice-chancellor and finance minister in Merkel's grand coalition government, a powerful position in German national politics.