Berlin ¨C Germans vote in a national election on Sunday which is expected to see Friedrich Merz¡¯s conservatives regain power and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) score its best ever result as Europe¡¯s ailing economic powerhouse lurches rightward.
Merz¡¯s CDU/CSU bloc has consistently led polls but is unlikely to win a majority given Germany¡¯s fragmented political landscape, forcing it to sound out coalition partners.
Those negotiations are expected to be tricky after a campaign which exposed sharp divisions over migration and how to deal with the AfD in a country where far-right politics carries a particularly strong stigma due to its Nazi past.
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