More than 60 million Germans vote to decide who will succeed Angela Merkel | He will leave the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after 16 years in office

More than 60 million Germans are eligible to participate in the elections on Sunday. Democratic and conservative socialists They are fighting over the succession from Angela Merkelwho will leave the embassy after 16 years.

Polls and Result Adjusted

Opinion polls point to a very close result with the Conservative bloc Merkel, Christian Democratic Union (CDU-CSU), with approximately 23% of voting intentions are behind SPD with 25%.

Voting centers will be open until 6:00 PM (1:00 PM in Argentina) and some members vote The main players in German politics.

The German President Frank-Walter SteinmeierHe voted this morning at his electoral college in Berlin He encouraged the participation of citizens, because “whoever votes revives democracy.”

The dispute over the chancellery has left a duel between two men: Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Schulz, 63, of the Social Democrats, against Armin Laschet, 60, of Merkel’s conservative coalition.

Voting canceled

Laschet made headlines after casting his vote. The German politician folded his ballot paper upside down before it was deposited in the ballot box, making the chosen candidate fully visible to those present. According to German election law, It must be bypassed.

DPA reported that the photographers recorded the moment. Voting in Germany is secret, so the voter must, according to the German Electoral Commission, “Collapse (polling) so that your voice cannot be recognized“If this vote is recognizable, it should be considered invalid during the count, according to German public television ARD.

Apart from this episode, after the vote, Laschet called for citizen participation and highlighted the historical significance of this election.

Angela Merkel

After scrutiny, the German parliament is scheduled to meet on October 26. This will be the date when Merkel’s succession is officially dissolved.

Name and composition of the future advisor Most likely risk not meeting on Sunday.

Everything indicates that long and intense negotiations will be necessary to form a coalition, so that paralysis could occur until the first quarter of 2022.

After this hypothesis, The advisor can remain in office during the negotiation period.