The German population can go to the polls this Sunday to choose a new parliament. The ballot boxes are open this morning from 8 a.m., until 6 p.m. tonight. It is expected that the first exit poll will come out shortly after closing with a prognosis of the result. Almost sixty million Germans are entitled to vote, together they are represented by 630 seats. The new parliament will also vote for a new Chancellor; Normally the leader of the largest party.
The months in the run -up to the elections, the polls were apparently stable: the conservative Christian Democratic CDU/CSU has been in the lead for a while and it is expected that the party will get the most seats. This is followed by the radical-right AfD, which, according to the leveling agencies, will get more than 20 percent of the seats. Government Party SPD is the third largest party in the polls, followed by De Groenen.
The fifth party is crucial: both the liberal FDP, the socialist that Linke and the populist-left Bündis Sarah Wagenknecht gauge just above or below the electoral threshold of five percent of the votes. It is expected that only one of those parties will reach the new Bundestag, and that seems to be that Linke. But that is not a certainty, because in the run -up to the elections, more than 30 percent of the Germans hinted not yet to know which party they will vote for. This group of floating voters is crucial for the final result.
Migration
Germany expert Hanco Jürgens left this week NRC Knowing that the German polls are generally reliable. “There is more and better assessment than in the Netherlands,” said Jürgens. “The polls also give a picture of who is the most popular politician and which themes the voters find important: for a long time that was climate, economy and international security. The worries about migration have increased in recent months. “
(Early) elections take place because the coalition consisting of SPD, the Greens and FDP had been folded after disagreement about the national budget. Chancellor Olaf Scholz remained as party leader of the Social Democratic SPD, but it does not look like he can resume his chancellery.
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