Germany’s economy is stalled and its politics fractured. But it sees an opening for a new chancellor to lead Europe’s response to a changing America.

Germans are going to the polls on Sunday for national elections. Opinion polls suggest the outcome will be a new chancellor and, likely, a new governing coalition.

Germans are going to the polls after an intense election campaign dominated by their country's faltering economy and a succession of deadly attacks that have made migration and security a focal issue.

Germans were voting in a national election on Sunday that is expected to restore power to Friedrich Merz's conservatives while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is forecast to achieve its best result yet in Europe's ailing economic powerhouse.

German voters cast their ballots in Sunday’s election, and early exit poll data shows opposition leader Friedrich Merz’s conservatives in the lead. It also indicates that Alternative for Germany is heading for the strongest showing for a far-right party since World War II.