Germans began voting on Sunday in a pivotal election, with the conservatives the strong favourites after a campaign rocked by a far-right surge and the dramatic return of US President Donald Trump.
Polling stations opened at 8.00am local time, with more than 59 million Germans eligible to vote and first estimates based on exit polls expected after polls close at 6.00pm.
Front-runner Friedrich Merz had vowed a tough rightward shift if elected to win back voters from the far-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), which was eyeing a record result after a string of deadly attacks blamed on asylum seekers.
If he takes over from embattled centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as widely predicted given a yawning poll gap, the CDU leader had promised a “strong voice” in Europe at a time of chaotic disruption.
The high-stakes vote in the European Union’s largest 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.
Across Europe, Nato allies worry about the future of the alliance, nowhere more than in Germany, which grew prosperous under the US-led security umbrella.