Germany will hold snap parliamentary elections on Sunday.
German voters will go to the polls from 8 am to 6 pm local time (7 am to 5 pm GMT) to elect 630 members of the Bundestag.
According to German law, out of the 630 mandates, 299 are allocated to single-mandate constituencies based on a relative majority, while the remaining mandates are distributed through party lists.
In recent months, opinion polls have shown roughly the same pattern: the clear favorite in the election race is the CDU/CSU union led by Friedrich Merz, with a rating of around 30%. In second place is the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, with about 20% support. In third place is the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, with a rating of 14-17%.
On December 27, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier decided to dissolve the Bundestag and schedule early elections for February 23.
"Today I have decided to dissolve the 20th Bundestag and schedule early elections for February 23 next year. The relevant notification has been sent to the chairman of the Bundestag," the president said in an address to the nation.
The proposal to dissolve parliament was submitted to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier by Chancellor Olaf Scholz after the Bundestag voted on December 16 to withdraw confidence in his government. Of the 717 members of parliament who participated in the vote, 394 voted against the motion of confidence in Scholz as Chancellor of Germany, 207 voted in favor, and 116 abstained.