E-Paper
Germans vote in national polls, Friedrich Merz unlikely to attain majority
Germany’s electoral system rarely gives any party an absolute majority and opinion polls suggest that no party is anywhere near one this time
Voting in Germany's national election began on Sunday, pitting incumbent chancellor Olaf Scholz against opposition leader Friedrich Merz, Vice Chancellor and environmentalist Greens candidate Robert Habeck and co-leader of the far-right AfD Alice Weidel.
According to a Reuters report, polling began at 8 am local time and will end at 6 pm. About 60 million people in Germany are eligible to vote.
Polls opened at 0800 local time (0700 GMT) and will close at 1800 (1700 GMT) when vote counting will start and exit polls will be released. About 60 million people in Germany are eligible to vote.
Germany’s electoral system rarely gives any party an absolute majority and opinion polls suggest that no party is anywhere near one this time. Two or more parties will most likely form a coalition in the coming weeks.
ALSO READ: Germany polls: How rural Bavaria could help new govt shape its immigration policy
Why is Germany holding an election?
The election comes seven months ahead of schedule following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition in early November.
It’s only the fourth time the Bundestag has been dissolved ahead of schedule following a confidence vote under Germany’s post-World War II constitution.
According to an AP report, exit polls will be announced and vote-counting will begin immediately after voting ends Sunday, and the general picture of the outcome should be clear very quickly. A final official result is expected early Monday.
ALSO READ: German chancellor Olaf Scholz calls Trump's rare earths demands 'selfish' amid Ukraine crisis
It’s only the fourth time the Bundestag has been dissolved ahead of schedule following a confidence vote under Germany’s post-World War II constitution.
Leaders in poll fray
According to Reuters, analysts have predicted a tie-up of Friedrich Merz's conservative bloc of Christian Democrats (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) with the SPD, which is polling in third place in another uneasy "grand coalition".
If he takes over from Scholz, as widely predicted given a yawning poll gap, the CDU leader has promised a "strong voice" in Europe at a time of chaotic disruption, the Reuters report added.
The high-stakes vote in the European Union's biggest economy comes amid tectonic upheaval in US-Europe ties sparked by Trump's direct outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin over their heads to end the Ukraine war.
At an AfD rally elsewhere in Berlin, a 49-year-old engineer, who gave his name only as Christian, praised the party's leader Alice Weidel as a "tough woman, stepping on the toes of the other parties".
These, he told AFP, "are now adopting the AfD's programmes and passing them off as their own. So she is doing something right."
