Germany Votes With Polls Pointing to Merz Victory: What to Watch

German voters are choosing the next leaders of Europe’s biggest economy on Sunday with polls suggesting a likely victory for the opposition conservatives under Friedrich Merz and a bitter loss for Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democrats.

If Merz’s center-right CDU/CSU bloc wins as expected, he’ll need at least one coalition partner to secure a majority in the lower house of parliament. His government would then face a host of challenges ranging from reviving economic growth and securing energy supplies to navigating a geopolitical environment upended by the return of US President Donald Trump.