Germans vote under shadow of far-right surge, Trump

TDT | Manama
Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

Germans began voting Sunday in a pivotal election, with the conservatives the strong favourites after a campaign rocked by a far-right surge and the dramatic return of US President Donald Trump.

Polling stations opened at 8:00 am (0700 GMT) with more than 59 million Germans eligible to vote and first estimates based on exit polls expected after polls close at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT).

Frontrunner Friedrich Merz has vowed a tough rightward shift if elected to win back voters from the far-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is eyeing a record result after a string of deadly attacks blamed on asylum seekers.

If he takes over from embattled centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as widely predicted given a yawning poll gap, the CDU leader has promised a "strong voice" in Europe at a time of chaotic disruption.

The high-stakes vote in the European Union's biggest economy comes amid tectonic upheaval in US-Europe ties sparked by Trump's direct outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin over their heads to end the Ukraine war.

Across Europe, NATO allies worry about the future of the alliance, nowhere more than in Germany which grew prosperous under the US-led security umbrella.

However, it may take Merz many weeks to negotiate a coalition government, spelling yet more political paralysis in Berlin during such fraught times.

In a strange twist to the polarised campaign, the AfD has basked in the glowing support lavished on it by Trump's entourage, with billionaire Elon Musk touting it as the only party to "save Germany".

Trump, asked about the elections in Germany, which he has berated over its trade, migration and defence policies, said dismissively that "I wish them luck, we got our own problems".

Merz, in his final CDU/CSU campaign event in Munich on Saturday, said Europe needed to walk tall to be able to "sit at the main table" of the world powers.

Voicing strong confidence, the 69-year-old former investment lawyer told supporters that "we will win the elections and then the nightmare of this government will be over".

"There is no left majority and no left politics anymore in Germany," Merz told a raucous beer hall, promising to tighten border controls and revive flagging Germany Inc.