Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that he will continue to lead the German government until a new ruling coalition is formed after Sunday's snap elections to the Bundestag (parliament).

Scholz has accepted the defeat of his Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). German law, however, does not obligate the chancellor to resign in such cases.

"It is a great honor to be Germany's ninth chancellor. I will serve in this position until the end. Now the other [politicians] must find a way to form a [new] government. I have earned this honor thanks to the citizens who gave me and us this mandate in the last elections, as well as to the Social Democratic Party," Scholz said at the SPD headquarters in Berlin after the exit poll was announced.

Also, he expressed hope that the SPD will remain a united party that will fight to maintain the central role of social democratic politics in Germany in the future.