Will the far right be the second largest party? Everything you need to know about Germany’s elections

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his government face being voted out of office next week, as Germany heads to the polls in an election dominated by Ukraine, energy prices and the rise of the far right.

The election comes after the ruling three-party coalition collapsed on the day Donald Trump’s return to the presidency was confirmed last year.

Here’s everything you need to know as Europe’s biggest economy goes to the polls.

When is the election and when will we know the result?

Elections will be held on 23 February across Germany.

Polls close at 6pm, after which the first results exit polls are published (they aren’t allowed before that time).

Additional, more precise projections follow soon after, based on votes counted at a handful of polling stations.

Generally, the preliminary official results are published on the night of the election, based on results from every polling station.

Who are the main parties?

Germany has two centrist, “big-tent” parties: Mr Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the opposition conservatives, made up of the Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).

Both of them have lost support in recent years, and smaller parties have gained ground such as the Greens and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Also running are the pro-market Free Democrats (FDP), the far-left Linke and the leftist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW).

Who are the main party leaders?

Olaf Scholz, 66, from the SPD is the current chancellor of Germany.

He was given the post in December 2021 and has led the country through various crises, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But his three-party coalition with the Greens and the FDP was fraught with argument and his popularity has fallen significantly during his time as chancellor.

While he is again running for the top job, he is expected to be voted out of office, based on polling.

Friedrich Merz, 69, whose opposition bloc has been ahead in the polls, is an experienced politician and a familiar face in the German conservative movement.

He was famously pushed aside by former chancellor Angela Merkel, but is now back and expected to win the top job after returning to politics and promising a break from Ms Merkel’s centrist approach.

Mr Merz drew controversy this year after his motion on migration passed with the support of the AfD – seen by some as breaking a taboo against cooperating with the far-right party. He continues to reject going into coalition with them.

He has positioned himself as someone who could get along with Donald Trump, despite previously calling out the US leader’s response to his 2020 election defeat.

The AfD’s leader Alice Weidel has overseen a rise in support for her party and will now lead them into the election.

The 46-year-old is an unusual figure to lead a German hard right-wing party that advocates for a “traditional family” – a gay woman with a PhD in economics, a Sri Lankan partner, two children and a home in another country – she commutes from Switzerland.

Ms Weidel will fight the election with a manifesto that follows a familiar pattern from other successful populist campaigns in Europe and beyond – contempt for mainstream politicians, anger over levels of irregular immigration, a desire to rein in the power of the European Union and dismay over the spread of so-called woke values.

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What are the key issues in the German elections?

Ukraine has been a key consideration in European politics for years now and these polls are no different.

All of Germany’s mainstream parties favour aid to Ukraine, but Mr Scholz has been seen as taking a more cautious tone than the conservatives, Greens and FDP. Mr Scholz, for instance, has so far refused to supply long-range Taurus missiles to Kyiv while the three other parties support sending them.

The AfD want weapons deliveries to Ukraine stopped and a resumption of good relations with Russia.

The war has forced Germany to re-evaluate its attitude towards its defence and military in a way it has not had to since the Second World War.

The economy is also central to the election, in particular the issue of whether to reform Germany’s constitutionally enshrined debt brake to allow for higher public spending.

The CDU, SPD and Greens are all in favour of expanding renewable energy to reduce costs, but differ in how they would achieve that. In contrast, the AfD opposes renewable energy subsidies and advocates for unrestricted coal-fired power plant operations.

A series of violent attacks linked to foreign suspects in Germany have compounded public concerns over security and migration, leading to political parties demanding stricter measures on migration.

Both the CDU and SPD have toughened their position on the issue, while the anti-Islam, anti-migration AfD has called for borders to be closed

What are the polls saying?

Mr Merz’s conservatives have been ahead in the polls for more than two years and his bloc is at 29%, according to an INSA survey published on 8 February.

They are followed by the AfD on 21% and Mr Scholz’s SPD on 16%, with the Greens on 12% and BSW on 6%.

Despite the rise in popularity of the AfD, they are unlikely to be involved in any coalition government as all the other parties have ruled out any cooperation with them. That could mean that coalition negotiations after the elections take more time, if the AfD does indeed win a sizeable number of seats on Sunday.

How are seats in the Bundestag allocated?

Germany’s system is a bit different to the UK’s Each voter casts two votes in the Bundestag (parliament) elections – one for a candidate in their constituency and one for a political party.

The 630 seats in the Bundestag are allocated to parties based on what proportion of second votes they received.

Once each party has been awarded a number of seats matching their national vote share, their candidates are ranked from the most to the fewest number of constituency votes received in a list and it’s from this that their new Bundestag members are chosen.

The new Bundestag then elects a chancellor by majority vote.