The exit polls for ARD and ZDF public television show Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left Social Democrats on track for their worst postwar result in a national parliamentary election, and expected to be in third place.
This election took place seven months before it was originally planned after centre-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition collapsed in November, three years into a term that was increasingly marred by infighting.
The top candidates, conservative front-runner Friedrich Merz and current Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats, voted within minutes of each other in different parts of the country on Sunday morning.
The conservatives are on track for German election victory while Alternative for Germany (AfD) is heading for the strongest showing for a far-right party since the Second World War, exit polls show.
The polls, issued right after the last polling stations closed, put support for opposition leader Friedrich Merz' Union bloc at 28.5-29% and AfD at 19.5-20% - roughly double its result from 2021.
