German sitting Chancellor Angela Merkel (L, Front) is applauded after the preliminary exit poll at the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party's headquarters in Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 24, 2017. (Xinhua/Luo Huanhuan)

BERLIN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- With all votes counted, official results on early Monday confirmed that Germany's far-right Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) was elected in the federal parliament for the first time.

The anti-immigration populist party netted 12.6 percent of votes in Sunday's federal election, pinning itself as the third strongest party in the Bundestag, or German federal parliament, official results suggested.

It is also the first far-right populist party in the Bundestag since WWII.

Official results also showed AfD has won the most votes in the German eastern state of Saxony, by gaining 27 percent of votes, just slightly ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

The CDU and their Bavarian-based Christian Social Union (CSU) allies secured its leading position in the Bundestag with 33 percent of the votes, 8.5 percentage points less than that of the 2013 and the worst performance since 1949.

The shrunken yet still commanding margin of the CDU/CSU conservative alliance is set to herald a fourth term for Merkel as Chancellor, with the support of other parties.

The Union's major rival Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Martin Schulz tumbled to 20.5 percent, while the Green and Left parties won about 8.9 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively.

The pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) enjoyed a remarkable 10.7 percent of votes and was re-elected into the Bundestag after its failure in 2013.