On February 23, early elections to the Bundestag began in Germany. Polling stations opened at 08:00 and will remain open until 18:00. A total of 29 political parties are participating in the elections, DW reports .

The total number of voters is 59.2 million. Of these, 42% are citizens over 60 years of age, and 3.9% are young people who have gained the right to vote for the first time in federal elections. About 200,000 German citizens have registered to vote abroad, although their total number is estimated at 3–4 million. However, turnout among them traditionally remains low due to bureaucratic difficulties and the need to send ballots by mail.

There are 29 parties on the list of participants, but only 10 of them are represented in all 16 federal states. Among them are the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Alliance 90/The Greens, the Free Democratic Party, Alternative for Germany, The Left Party, the Sahra Wagenknecht Union, Free Voters, Volt, the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany and the Alliance for Germany. The Christian Democratic Union is participating in the elections in 15 federal states, with the exception of Bavaria, where it is replaced by the Christian Social Union.

Preliminary opinion polls showed the greatest support for the conservative CDU/CSU bloc, followed by the far-right Alternative for Germany. Next came the center-left Social Democratic Party and the left-liberal Greens. The ratings of the Left Party, Sahra Wagenknecht's left-populist Union and the liberal Free Democratic Party hovered around 5%, the minimum threshold for entering parliament.

According to sociologists, about 20% of voters could not decide on their choice of candidates until the last moment or doubted whether to go to the polls.

Subscribe to our Instagram

Cover: Image – Pixabay.com