Final push as the favorite Merz promises to lead in Europe

Germany’s political leaders will take their fight for votes directly until the last minute in an impulse that reflects the fundamental nature of Sunday’s elections, not only for their country but by Europe as a whole.

Conservative researcher Friedrich Merz told supporters that, under his leadership, Germany would assume responsibility in Europe, and that the extreme right alternative for Germany (AFD) would be consigned to political margins once again.

The campaign of his Christian Democratic Party will end with a demonstration in Munich, while his rivals will give an end attraction in a program of “fast dates” of television with the voters.

For months, German politics has been paralyzed by the collapse of the previous government.

Now, there have been hopes throughout Europe that this vote brings some certainty to the greatest democracy of the EU and its largest economy, which has struggled to escape the persistent recession.

Nothing will change overnight. No party can govern without forming a coalition, and that will take weeks.

Relivating the economy has been one of the two big problems of the campaign; The other has been migration and security, pushed to Germany politicians for a series of mortal attacks since May 2024.

The cities of Mannheim, Solingen, Magdeburg, Aschaffenburg and Munich have suffered serious attacks. A Spanish tourist was stabbed in the Holocaust memorial in the center of Berlin on Friday night, although their wounds are not considered mortal.

All the alleged attackers were immigrants, and the AFD under Alice Weidel has advanced to approximately 20% in the surveys with their nationalist and anti -immigrant message.

She has appealed to the youngest voters on social networks, and is far ahead in Tiktok’s career, with 870,000 followers. He has also been promoted by the support of billionaire Elon Musk and the American vice president JD Vance, who has been accused of enduring the German campaign.

The AFD talks about ensuring Germany’s borders and deporting migrants who came illegally and committed crimes. But she uses the word “remigning” that has also been linked to mass deportations.

In Solingen, where a Syrian was accused of stabbing three people to death last August, hundreds of people came on Friday night to speak against the rise of the extreme right.

“We have many friends who grew up in Germany whose parents did not,” said a woman named Natalie, 35. “We don’t want anyone to take them and we don’t want our borders to close.”

A man named Jochen raised a sign that said “Never again is now!”

There was a great police presence in the protest, and the stabbing of Friday night in Berlin has increased security fears.

A spokesman for the Police Union warned about the risk of attacks aimed at destabilizing democracy.

All conventional parties have ruled out working with the AFD in the Government, but survey greater than 20% could double their number of seats to 150 in the 630 -seat Parliament.

The most likely partner of Merz is the social democrats of Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz, although probably without Scholz himself. The message of its central-left SPD when it began on the last day of the campaign was that each vote counts, and if the Germans wanted a strong government, they needed a strong SPD.

The social democrats are languishing thirdly in the surveys, but Scholz is fixing their hopes in an estimated one in five undecided voters who could make a big difference.

Friedrich Merz was in a relaxed and safe humor when he appeared on stage this week in front of 1,200 followers in the city of Darmstadt of Tech-Hub, near Frankfurt. But his message was marked when he returned his thoughts to the presidency of Donald Trump.

One hand in his pocket and the other holding the microphone, spoke of unprecedented times and a “tectonic change in the world’s power centers.”

“A political order is now falling apart. What we have become accustomed for decades is to break.” He was not even sure if the United States would join Germany to celebrate the year 70 of his adhesion to NATO in the summer.

He punished the outgoing government for not assuming a main role in the international stage.

“The German government and chancellor must finally assume a main role in Europe again. If I am chosen, I will spend an important part of my time maintaining this United European Union.”

The Germans have had almost nocturnal opportunities to see their political leaders crush the big problems in television debates, and Alice Weidel has been in their middle, sharing the stage with Merz and Scholz.

In the period prior to the vote, he met Vice President JD Vance, who punished German politicians for raising a “Firewall” against the extreme right and ignoring “the will of the voters.”

That Firewall – Fire wall In German, he has remained strong since the end of the war, although Merz himself was accused of breaking it when he trusted the support of the AFD last month in a motion on migration.

He has faced manifestations since then, and there was a noisy protest when Darmstadt visited.

Doctoral student Annika, 29, celebrated a banner of Herz Statt Merz, love instead of Merz. “He says he will not do something with the AFD of the extreme right, but his actions contradict what he says. I don’t trust him at all.”

Merz seems to have been chopped by the protest and has tried to reassure voters who will not be tolerance, no minority government (with the AFD), nothing at all. “