Germany kicks off federal election

BERLIN -- German voters went to polls Sunday to decide the composition of the next Bundestag, the country's lower house of parliament.

The election was scheduled for September this year, but a snap election was triggered by the collapse of the current ruling coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens, and the Free Democratic Party last year.

The latest polls show that the sister parties of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU) are taking the lead.

According to Friday's survey conducted by the Forsa Institute, support for CDU and CSU stood at 29 percent, compared with 21 percent for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and 15 percent for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's SPD.

It takes a majority of the 630 seats in the Bundestag to form a stable federal government.

The Forsa survey also showed that 22 percent of respondents were still unsure of their choice shortly before the election.

Polling stations closes at 18:00 local time (1700 GMT) on Sunday when the counting of votes begins.

A total of 4,506 candidates stand for the election in 299 constituencies, with at least 59.2 million people eligible to vote, official figures show.