Official results confirm that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives have won Germany’s election, but indicate that they have finished short of an absolute majority.

Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party together won 41.5 percent of the vote, while its junior coalition allies the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) for the first time in over half a century missed out on any seats in parliament, garnering only 4.8 percent.

Challenger Peer Steinbrueck’s Social Democrats won 25.7 percent, their Green allies 8.4 percent and the hard-line Left Party 8.6 percent.

Election officials didn’t immediately provide a seat tally, but Merkel’s conservatives are 1.2 percentage points behind the other parties combined.

“I see the next four years in front of me and I can promise that we will face many tasks, at home, in Europe and in the world,” Merkel said during a television appearance with other party leaders.

Despite the scale of her win, governing isn’t likely to get easier for Merkel over the next four years.

Her partners of choice, the pro-business Free Democrats, fell short of the 5 percent needed to win seats in parliament for the first time in Germany’s post-World War II history…

Although anecdotal evidence suggested strong voter participation – officials at two polling stations said turnout was higher than in 2009 – Sunday’s election seemed to be a low-energy affair. Aside from the ubiquitous election posters, few visual cues suggested that this was a special day.

I wonder how independent and young voters went. Germany appears to be following the American model of TweedleDeeDum political parties. A couple of wings of the same boring, timid corporate flunkies.

It’s useful to see the dregs of Germany’s post-War right wing floundering; but, again, I look forward to detailed analysis of campaigns waged – and how successfully – by the minor parties with a commitment to workingclass voters.