Germany’s rival political leaders will take their fight for votes right to the last minute in a push that reflects the pivotal nature of Sunday’s election, not just for their country but for Europe as a whole.
Conservative frontrunner Friedrich Merz told supporters that under his leadership, Germany would take responsibility in Europe, and that the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) would be consigned to the political margins once more.
He will end his Christian Democrat party’s campaign with a rally in Munich, while his rivals will make a final appeal in a TV “speed-dating” programme with voters.
For months German politics has been paralysed by the collapse of the previous government.
Now, hopes have been raised across Europe that this vote will bring some certainty to the EU’s biggest democracy and its biggest economy, which has struggled to escape from lingering recession.
Nothing will change overnight. No party can govern without forming a coalition, and that will take weeks.
Reviving the economy has been one of the two big issues of the campaign; the other has been migration and security, thrust on Germany’s politicians by a series of deadly attacks since May 2024.
The cities of Mannheim, Solingen, Magdeburg, Aschaffenburg and Munich have all suffered grievous attacks.
All the alleged attackers were immigrants, and the AfD under Alice Weidel has advanced to about 20% in the polls with its nationalist, anti-immigration message.
She has appealed to younger voters on social media, and is far ahead in the race on TikTok, with 866,000 followers. She has also been buoyed by support from both billionaire Elon Musk and US Vice-President JD Vance, who has been accused of meddling in the German campaign.
Getty Images Alice Weidel leans over to shake the hand of Olaf Scholz whose back is to the camera, while the Green candidate Robert Habeck walks awayGetty Images
Alice Weidel has taken part in many of the election debates shown on German TV
The AfD talks of securing Germany’s borders and deporting migrants who came illegally and committed crimes. But she uses the word “remigration” which has also been linked to mass deportations.
In Solingen, where a Syrian was accused of stabbing to death three people last August, hundreds of people turned out on Friday night to speak out against the rise of the far right.
“We have a lot of friends who grew up in Germany whose parents did not,” said one woman called Natalie, 35. “We don’t want anybody to kick them out and we don’t want our borders closed.”
One man called Jochen held up a sign that read “Never Again is Now!”
There was a large police presence at the protest, and a police union spokesman said on Friday there was a risk of attacks aimed at destabilising democracy.
A man with a beard and a flat cap holds up a sign in German that reads “Never again is Now”
This local man from Solingen, Jochen, held up a banner that read: “Never again is Now!”
All the mainstream parties have ruled out working with the AfD in government, but if it polls higher than 20% it could double its number of seats to 150 in the 630-seat parliament.
Merz’s most likely partner is Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, although probably without Scholz himself. The message from his centre-left SPD as the final day of campaigning began was that every vote counts, and if Germans wanted a strong government they needed a strong SPD.
The Social Democrats are languishing in third in the polls, but Scholz is pinning his hopes on an estimated one in five undecided voters who could make a big difference.
BBC
