Latest updates as SPD and CDU battle it out in neck-and-neck race to become largest party in the Bundestag
Affable but gaffe-prone, CDU leader Armin Laschet – Angela Merkel’s preferred successor as chancellor – blundered again on election day, folding his ballot the wrong way and so revealing to the assembled media which party he had voted for.
His choice was hardly a surprise – Laschet cast both votes for his centre-right party under an election system that allows voters to cast one vote for a representative in the country’s 299 districts, and one for the party they want in parliament.
Unions-Kanzlerkandidat @ArminLaschet hat seinen Stimmzettel beim Einwurf in die Urne so gefaltet, dass seine Wahl nicht geheim erfolgte. Es ist zu sehen, wo er seine Kreuze gemacht hat. Derzeit wird geprüft, ob #Laschet gegen das Wahlgeheimnis verstoßen hat. pic.twitter.com/yiFVlUL4GP
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of Germany’s 2021 federal election, which – whatever its outcome – marks the end of an era: Angela Merkel’s 16 years as chancellor of Europe’s largest economy.
The race is widely seen as one of the most unpredictable in recent history, with about 40% of voters saying they are still undecided and polls narrowing over the past few day to bring Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU alliance almost level with the centre-left SPD.
