Polls for the German elections are published
According to the first polls, the CDU/CSU parties won 29 percent of the vote, followed by the AfD with 19.5 percent, the SPD third with 16 and the Greens in fourth place with 13.5 percent.
German voters cast their ballots today in a general election in which conservatives are the favorites after a campaign rocked by the rise of the far right and the dramatic return of US President Donald Trump.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. and more than 59 million Germans are eligible to vote.
Presumptive new chancellor Friedrich Merz has promised a strong shift to the right if elected to win back voters for the far-right anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is expecting a record result after a series of deadly attacks blamed on asylum seekers.
52 percent of the total 59.2 million voters had cast their ballots at polling stations by 14:00 p.m.
This does not include those who previously voted by mail. This is significantly higher than in September 2021, when 36.5 percent of voters had voted by 14 p.m. Turnout is higher than in the pre-pandemic 00 election, when 2017 percent of voters voted.
"This shows that there is a lot of interest in the election," said Federal Election Commissioner Ruth Brand.
These are the exit poll results at 18:00 PM:
• CDU/CSU - 29 percent
• AfD - 19.5 percent
• SDP - 16 percent
• The Greens - 13,5 percent
• Connections - 8.5 percent
• FPD - 4.9 percent
• BSW - 4.7
