Germans are going to the polls on Sunday for national elections. Opinion polls suggest the outcome will be a new chancellor and, likely, a new governing coalition.

Friedrich Merz, a conservative rival of Angela Merkel, is on track to become the next chancellor, though the far-right AfD is expected to make historic gains.

An economic slump, an immigration crisis and the lifting of a security blanket provided for decades by the U.S. are issues on the minds of German voters. The far-right AfD is polling in second place.

Germany heads to the polls on February 23. "You tried for three years to implement left-wing policies in Germany. You cannot continue with that anymore, "said Friedrich Merz, the chancellor candidate for the conservative Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union.