An election win for Germany's conservatives has eased concerns of political gridlock in Europe's biggest economy, though it failed to lift uncertainty around whether a new government can deliver fiscal reforms that would boost sluggish growth.

Germany faces its second change of leader in less than four years after the head of the center-right opposition won Sunday’s election

Here are five key takeaways. Look at an election results map of Germany, and you could almost have travelled back in time to the Cold War, when an iron curtain divided communist East Germany from the west.