This important election has galvanised voters, and campaigning resumed on Saturday evening with a final discussion on national television, the ninth of the month

Although Germany has rarely handed an absolute majority to any candidate, Centre-right opposition leader Friedrich Merz's Union Bloc has been leading the opinion polls.

Regardless of the outcome, Sunday's German election marks a rejection of the centrist political establishment and a shift to the right.

Germans are going to the polls after an intense election campaign dominated by their country's faltering economy and a succession of deadly attacks that have made migration and security a focal issue.

The contenders in Germany's election made their final appeals to voters Saturday, with opposition leader and front-runner Friedrich Merz vowing to revive the stagnant economy and defend Europe's interests in the face of a confrontational U.

German voters are choosing the next leaders of Europe’s biggest economy on Sunday with polls suggesting a likely victory for the opposition conservatives under Friedrich Merz and a bitter loss for Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democrats.