BERLIN: Armin Laschet, the newly elected centrist leader of Germany's conservative Christian Democrats, pledged dialogue with all the country's democratic parties, adding that these were times in which democrats had to stand together.

"Especially in these days that we are experiencing in the world, the phrase 'unity, justice and freedom' is more topical than ever," he said with reference to the opening stanza of the German national anthem.

"Let us fight together for these principles against all those who want to endanger them," he concluded.