The vote is likely to mark the end of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s turbulent coalition.
BERLIN ― Olaf Scholz and his Social Democratic Party (SPD) are braced for a crushing defeat in Sunday’s German election. The vote looks set to return a center-right chancellor and show record postwar support for the far right.
This page will be updated throughout the night as the results come in. We are also following developments live on our blog.
Exit polls are expected shortly after voting closes at 6 p.m. Official projections will come sometime after that. By midnight a final result should be clear.
The outcome is likely to mark the end of Scholz’s turbulent three-year coalition.
According to POLITICO’s poll of polls updated right up to the election on Sunday, the SPD was on course to win 16 percent of the votes — delivering the worst election result for the party in Germany’s post-war history.
The opinion polls showed conservative leader Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as frontrunner with 30 percent, meaning he will likely become next chancellor. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was on 20 percent going into voting day and the Greens on 13 percent.
The performance of the smaller parties ― the Free Democratic Party (FDP), the Left party and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance ― will determine how easy it is for the next government to form a coalition.
Our map showing general election results by constituency will be populated with live updates throughout the night.
