Germans are going to the polls on Sunday for national elections. Opinion polls suggest the outcome will be a new chancellor and, likely, a new governing coalition.

Friedrich Merz, a conservative rival of Angela Merkel, is on track to become the next chancellor, though the far-right AfD is expected to make historic gains.

The Sunday vote comes amid an economy in the doldrums, big questions over Europe's security posture, and a surging far-right.

An economic slump, an immigration crisis and the lifting of a security blanket provided for decades by the U.S. are issues on the minds of German voters. The far-right AfD is polling in second place.

Germany’s European neighbours are still friends and partners, even if political trends in France, Austria and parts of central and eastern Europe give rise to concern in Berlin. But far more worrying is the antagonism of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and,

For Germans heading to the polls for a snap election, climate is not quite as important a factor as it used to be.

Germany's far-left Die Linke party has enjoyed a late poll surge ahead of Sunday's elections, boosted by a spirited anti-fascist speech by its new rising star that quickly went viral.