The latest: Exit surveys were published in Germany elections | National

German exit surveys show that opposition leader Friedrich Merz lead conservatives in the election, while alternative for Germany has the strongest performance for a right -wing extremist party since the Second World War.

The exit surveys for the public television show for ARD and ZDF television show Olaf Scholz for their worst post-war social social democrats lead to a national election choice and are expected to be in third place.

The choice was dominated by concerns about the years of stagnation of the largest economy in Europe, the pressure, migration and growing uncertainty about the future of Ukraine and the Europe alliance with the United States.

Surveys all over Germany are closed at 6 p.m. local time (1,700 GMT).

The exit surveys are expected to be released immediately afterwards.

The candidates for Chancellor will probably also address their members to parties across the country.

The citizens in the German capital give their voices in traditional polling stations such as schools, kindergartens, gyms or pension houses.

However, there are also some unusual vocal places in Berlin, the local RBB reports, including car dealers, restaurants and pubs.

Around 2.43 million people can vote in the city.

Election workers in Munich are preparing to count post -votes by spreading pink envelopes on a large table.

Letters can be opened from 3 p.m. local time (1400 GMT), and the actual number begins at 6 p.m. (1,100 GMT) when the polling stations are closed.

According to Germany's electoral authority, 52% of the legitimate voters had given their ballot papers four hours before the polling stations were completed.

The authority said that the number for the turnout until 2 p.m. local time (1,300 GMT) did not contain any people who voted by the post office. It compares itself to 36.5% at the same time in the 2021 elections, but many people gave absent-case in this vote, which were missing during the restrictions of Covid-19.

The turnout is usually high in German elections. The final turnout in the 2021 elections was 76.4%.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition was an alliance of the Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats.

The colors of the parties that run during the election on Sunday are black (Union Bloc), Red (Social Democrats), Green (the Greens), yellow (free democrats) and blue (AfD).

The new government could be a “Kenya” coalition (Union Bloc, Social Democrats, the Greens) or a “Germany” coalition (Union Bloc, Social Democrats, Free Democrats).

For the new Germans who originally come from Syria, the choice is weighted with particularly meaning. Many of them fled their country because the civil war, which followed the former President Bashar Assad, demanded against protests against greater democratic freedom. It was overthrown in November, but whether Syria is now becoming a democracy remains unclear. In the meantime, you can vote in several party elections in your new home.

There is no formal referee for the process of forming a new government and no defined time limit.

The conservative guide and front manager Friedrich Merz said he hoped to form a new government by mid-April if he wins.

German mainstream parties say that they will not work with extreme right parties, threatening democracy, an attitude after the war, which is often referred to as “firewall”.

This includes the alternative for Germany (AfD) in the election on Sunday.

The US Vice President JD Vance in Munich said in the beginning of this month that there is no place for “firewalls” and that there is strong criticism from German leaders.

The alternative for the Germany party (AfD) entered the parliament for the first time eight years ago to achieve dissatisfaction with the arrival of a large number of migrants in the mid-2010s, and the containment of migration remains its characteristic topic.

But the party has also proven to be clever to use dissatisfaction with other topics: Germany's departure from fossil fuels, restrictions during the Covid 19 pandemic and support for Ukraine after the full invasion of Russia almost three years ago.

Bayern Munich Powerbroker Uli Hoeness says he would speak to one of the club's players who support the right-wing extremist anti-immigrant alternative for the Germany party (AfD).

Hoeness, Bavaria's honorary president after more than 40 years at the head of the club, said in an interview published on Sunday that he would question an AfD-supporting player, “and ask him if he was still all of his tools in his toolbox has”.

Hoseness previously spoke against AfD at a memorial service for Bayern Great Franz Beckenbauer and argued for the continuation of club projects that combat racism and discrimination.

“Bavaria is a wonderful model for migration and integration. More than half of our youth players have a migration background, ”said Hoeness to Kicker.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last month that a second Trump presidency would be a “challenge”.

The right-wing extremist Fieli Alice Weidel has sworn himself to “make Germany great again in an echo from Trump's campaign slogan.

Tens of thousands of people all over Germany have protected against the right-wing extremist alternative for Germany (AfD) and conservative front manager Frontrich Merz for the transmission of suggestions for hard new migration rules that receive AfD support.

The demonstrators and the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel-Sagen, Merz broke “Die Firewall” against the cooperation with the right-wing extremist anti-immigrant parties.

The conservative guide and front manager Friedrich Merz has given his voice in the German elections.

Merz is the leader of the Center-Light Union Bloc, who by far has the best chance to form a new government.

Merz voted in Arnsberg in West Germany on Sunday, just a few minutes after his main competitor, Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He also faces the environmentalist Greens candidate Robert Habeck and the right-wing extremist leader Alice Weidel in the race for Chancellor.

Habeck and Weidel voted early.

The election on Sunday comes when Germany and the rest of Europe are summarized on the entire continent with the new Trump government, the Russia Ukraine War and security.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz voted in a German election that comes after the collapse of his government coalition in the past year.

Scholz then lost a vote and forced President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to dissolve Parliament and plan a new choice.

Scholz voted off in Potsdam, a city outside of Berlin on Sunday, and stands in front of the opposition leader and front manager Friedrich Merz, Vice Chancellor and Environmentalists Greens, Robert Habeck, and right -wing extremist Führer Alice Weidel in the race for Chancellor.

Friedrich Merz, the current opposition leader, is the leader of the country's election campaign.

His center-right union Bloc carries out surveys.

The 69-year-old became a leader of the Christian Democratic Union after Chancellor Angela Merkel resigned in 2021, even though he had joined the party decades ago.

According to the German news agency dpa, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier made his vote in a polling station in Berlin. He is a president in his second term and comes from the Social Democratic Party with the left left.

Germany is the most populous country in the 27-nation-European Union and a leading member of NATO. It will be of central importance to shape the reaction of the continent to the challenges of the coming years, including the confrontational foreign and trade policy of the Trump government.

Merz swore to revive the stagnant economy and to defend the interests of Europe in the face of a confrontational US administration. In the meantime, Scholz insisted that he is still hoping for an unlikely comeback at the last minute.

German citizens aged 18 and over can vote. At least 59.2 million people in the nation of 84 million are about 2.3 million of them for the first time.

The polling stations are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time.

The exit surveys are announced and the voting count begins immediately after the end of the vote. One last official result is expected early Monday.

Four candidates offer the nearest leader in Germany in the election on Sunday.

Surveys are now open all over Germany in the event of a choice that could shape the reaction of Europe to the new Trump government, the Russia Ukraine War and the security on the entire continent.

It is only the fourth time that the Bundestag was dissolved before the schedule after the constitution of Germany after the constitution of Germany after the Second World War.