Updated: 10.30

A split has appeared in Germany's far-right AfD party, just hours after it made historic gains in the general election.

While Angela Merkel and her CDU party secured the biggest share of the vote, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is poised to have around 90 seats.

The anti-immigration party will enter the national parliament for the first time.

But its co-chairwoman, Frauke Petry, says she will not be taking her place in parliament because she fears her colleagues will not embrace grown-up politics.

She says she will instead run as an independent.

"I want to implement real politics in this respect - and I want to declare here that I will not (be) part of the executive committee of the AfD.

"Please understand that I will not answer any questions on this".

"I thank my colleagues here on the panel on this podium, and now I'm going to leave the room", she said.

First day, first signs of disintegration. Head of far-right #AfD @FraukePetry refuses to join parlimanetary group: "Too anarchistic". #BTW17 pic.twitter.com/GHSDqiBVVW

— DW | Politics (@dw_politics) September 25, 2017

Supporters of German sitting Chancellor Angela Merkel celebrate after the preliminary exit poll at the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party's headquarters in Berlin, Germany | Image: Luo Huanhuan/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images

Mrs Merkel's CDU/CSU alliance took 33% of the vote, well ahead of the second placed Social Democratic Party with 20.5%, which would be its worst result since World War II.

But in a major shock, the AfD took 12.6% support in Sunday's vote, making it the country's third biggest political force.

It is now heading for the opposition benches of the Bundestag lower house - the first time a hard-right openly anti-immigration party with so many seats has entered parliament since the second World War.

German sitting Chancellor Angela Merkel casts her ballot in Berlin, Germany | Image: Luo Huanhuan/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images

The four-year-old party has links to the far-right French National Front and Britain's UKIP.

At least 500 protesters took to the streets outside the AfD's election party in Berlin after the results were announced, with some shouting "all Berlin hates the AfD", "Nazi pigs" and other slogans.

There were other protests in Cologne, Hamburg and Frankfurt.

But AfD supporters cheered as the exit poll results were announced and co-leader Alexander Gauland vowed they would "change" the country.

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel told them: "Millions of voters have entrusted us with the task of constructive opposition work in parliament".

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen congratulated the AfD on entering the German parliament.

Ms Le Pen, who lost France's presidential election to Emmanuel Macron earlier this year, wrote on Twitter: "Bravo to our allies from AfD for this historic score! It's a new symbol of the awakening of the peoples of Europe."

In her victory speech, Mrs Merkel vowed to win back voters from the AfD and admitted the party's entry into parliament posed "a big challenge".

Des félicitations particulières à @fraukepetry qui a mené l'AfD à ce score historique ! MLP #BTW2017 https://t.co/MfMP46675B

— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) September 24, 2017

Mrs Merkel failed to secure a ruling majority and now the process of coalition building will begin and could take several months.

She told supporters in Berlin: "Of course we had hoped for a slightly better result. But we mustn't forget that we have just completed an extraordinarily challenging legislative period, so I am happy that we reached the strategic goals of our election campaign.

"We are the strongest party, we have the mandate to build the next government - and there cannot be a coalition government built against us."

Another three parties cleared the 5% hurdle to representations, including the liberal Free Democrats who secured 10.7%, anti-capitalist Left and ecologist Greens who both achieved about 9%.

SPD deputy leader Manuela Schwesig said her party would now go into opposition, which rules out a re-run of Mrs Merkel's existing alliance with the party.

German Chancellor candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) Martin Schulz reacts as he delivers a speech at the headquarters of SPD in Berlin, Germany | Image: Shan Yuqi/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images

An alternative coalition for Mrs Merkel would be a three-way tie-up with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the Greens.

Mrs Merkel (63) faces four years of government in a fragmented parliament after the return of the FDP - unrepresented at national level for the last four years - and the arrival of the AfD.

Founded in 2013 by an anti-euro group of academics, the AfD has developed into an anti-immigration party that exploited Mrs Merkel's 2015 decision to leave German borders open to more than one million migrants.

A "bitter day"

Social Democratic Party leader Martin Schulz, who conceded defeat, said the election was a "bitter day" for the party.

He added: "Especially depressing for all of us is the strength of the AfD, which for the first time brings a right-wing party into German parliament in such a strong position.
"This is a turning-point. The fact that we took in more than one million refugees in our country is still dividing our country.

"What for some has been an act of humanity and charity is to others menacing, strange and filled with fear. We did not manage to persuade all of our voters that Germany is strong enough not to leave anyone behind."

Mrs Merkel said that she was not planning to try to lead a minority government.

Her current coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democrats, said after Sunday's election that they would not join the next government.