The German federal election on February 23 will determine the fate of Europe’s largest economy, with voters going to the polls seven months earlier than planned after the ruling coalition collapsed in November.
Support for all three parties in the governing “traffic light” coalition, which includes Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), has fallen considerably since the previous election in September 2021.
The centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Christian Social Union (CSU) sister party have gained the most in the polls, along with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the populist leftwing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).