Germany's new Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Tuesday that simply banning the far-right Alternative for Germany would not end the groundswell of support for it, noting it was key instead to fight the causes.

Conservative leader Friedrich Merz has won a parliament vote to become Germany's next chancellor at the second attempt. Merz had initially fallen six votes short of the absolute majority he needed on Tuesday morning - a significant blow to his prestige and an unprecedented failure in post-war German history.