00:00Incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz has cast his vote in Germany's critical election.
00:05Following the collapse of his government coalition last year, the leader of the Social Democratic
00:09Party lost a confidence vote, triggering snap elections.
00:13Voting alongside his wife, Britta Ernst, in Potsdam, Scholz faces stiff competition from
00:18Christian Democratic Union leader Friedrich Merz.
00:21Frontrunner Merz voted in Ansberg, where he shook hands with other voters who were in
00:26the queue for the ballots.
00:29Scholz and Merz voted within minutes of each other on Sunday morning.
00:33Green Party candidate Robert Habeck and far-right alternative for Germany's candidate Alice
00:37Weidel on the other side had cast their votes by mail ahead of election day.
00:43Polls suggest this could be the strongest showing for a far-right party since World
00:47War II.
00:50The election comes amid concerns over Germany's economic stagnation, migration pressures and
00:55uncertainty surrounding Ukraine and Europe's transatlantic alliance.
01:00As the continent's largest economy and most populous EU nation, Germany's leadership will
01:04shape responses to global challenges, including Trump-era trade tensions.
