German Election 2017: Over 60M Germans Vote Today As Merkel Seeks Fourth Term

More than 60 million Germans who are eligible to vote in Sunday’s federal election have begun to go to the polls with long-serving Chancellor Angela Merkel looking all but certain to win a historic fourth term in office.

It is understood that Merkel is seeking a fourth term in office and to keep her conservative CDU/CSU alliance’s status as the largest presence in Germany’s Bundestag.

Its coalition partner, the social democratic SPD, is its main rival, while the right-wing AfD is likely to gain its first parliamentary seats.

Polling stations opened at 08:00 local time (06:00 GMT) and close at 18:00, with exit polls expected shortly after.

Voter turnout is expected to be high.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged people to go vote.

“Voting is a civic duty. Go and vote!” Steinmeier wrote in an opinion piece published in the Bild am Sonntag Sunday newspaper.

“Every vote counts – your vote counts,” Steinmeier asserted. “People who don’t vote allow others to decide the future of our country.”

The election is seen as important because it may result in six parties in the Bundestag – the German national parliament – for the first time since World War Two.

Here are the key contenders below:

Angela Merkel:

Widely expected to retain her seat, Mrs Merkel is seen internationally as a source of stability – having led Germany since 2005. Her decision to open Germany to asylum seekers during the peak of Europe’s migrant crisis cost her politically, but she appears to have recovered

Martin Schulz:

The SPD leader was until recently speaker of the European Parliament. Mrs Merkel’s main rival is also her coalition partner – which has proved troublesome during the campaign, as he sought to criticise her politics

Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland:

The top candidates for the AfD. Achieving seats in the Bundestag – or potentially becoming the third-largest party, as some campaign polls suggested – would be a major victory.

Meanwhile, opinion polls are suggesting that Merkel and her party are heading for a clear win, which would gift Merkel a historic fourth term..