Now playing Next Germany German elections 2021: Armin Laschet tries to regain public trust Armin Laschet is Germany's CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor. He has seen his popularity drop in recent months due to several scandals and a string of public gaffes. Find out more about this former journalist and current leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). 20/09/2021
Now playing Next Germany Profile: Christian Social Union leader Markus Söder Söder was a strong contender to replace Merkel to become the conservative CDU/CSU bloc's candidate, but he eventually bowed out to Armin Laschet 20/09/2021
Now playing Next Germany Profile: Social Democratic Party leader Olaf Scholz The SPD's candidate for chancellor has certainly made a name for himself on the international stage. 20/09/2021
Now playing Next Germany Profile: Free Democratic Party leader Christian Lindner The 42-year-old leader of Germany's Free Democratic Party has his sights on becoming the country's finance minister. 20/09/2021
Now playing Next Germany German election tool helps voters choose between 40 parties The 'Wahl-O-Mat' compares a voter's political positions with the positions of Germany's political parties. 20/09/2021
Now playing Next The Cube Fact check: Unvaccinated citizens can vote in German election False claims have suggested that citizens need a COVID-19 health pass to vote in this month's federal election. 13/09/2021
Now playing Next Germany Germany: SPD ahead of Merkel's CDU in polls for first time in 15 years The change comes just a month before the country's federal election. 24/08/2021
Now playing Next Germany Germany's parties kick-off their campaigns ahead of pivotal election The vote on Sunday, September 26 will determine who will take over from Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is stepping down after 16 years in office. 11/08/2021
Now playing Next Germany Merkel successor hopeful Armin Laschet apologises for book plagiarism CDU leadership candidate Armin Laschet admitted that he had failed to credit a source in a 2009 book he wrote about immigration. 30/07/2021
Now playing Next Germany Merkel's party fends off far-right AfD challenge in Saxony-Anhalt vote Angela Merkel's centre-right CDU won 37%.1 of the vote, final results showed, in regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt seen as a last test before the national election in September. 06/06/2021
Now playing Next Germany Germany's CDU backs Armin Laschet as candidate to replace Merkel Laschet, the 60-year-old premier for North Rhine-Westphalia was picked over Markus Soder, the popular leader of Bavaria's Christian Social Union. 20/04/2021
Now playing Next Uncovering Europe German election: Six months ahead of the vote, where do things stand? Two key things make this election remarkable: Chancellor Angela Merkel is bowing out after 16 years in office and, perhaps even more significantly, the fact that no one can really predict what is going to happen now after years of certainty. 26/03/2021
Now playing Next Germany Merkel's centre-right party defeated in two German state elections Sunday's elections were viewed as a key test to determine what voters think of the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and to determine what they think of Merkel's successor. 14/03/2021
Now playing Next World Germany 'super election year' starts with state and regional ballots On Sunday two German states with a combined population of over 15 million people will elect new regional governments. It's the start of the so-called 'super election year' culminating with federal elections in September. 12/03/2021
Now playing Next Germany Germany sets general election date and an end to the Merkel era Angela Merkel is the second longest-serving German chancellor. 09/12/2020
Now playing Next Germany Angela Merkel's deputy Olaf Scholz to run for chancellor in 2021 vote Germany's current finance minister said he was unanimously designated as the Social Democratic Party's candidate in the upcoming election for chancellor. 10/08/2020
Now playing Next Germany Merkel successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to quit over vote fiasco Merkel successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that she will quit her role as head of the CDU after the party was criticised over a regional election in Thuringia. 10/02/2020
Now playing Next Germany Why are this weekend's state elections in Germany so significant? "It is possible these two results shake up the political system nationwide. But if the SBD stays in power in Bradenburg and the CDU stays in power in Saxony, this could be, as we say in German, a storm in a water bottle (storm in a teacup)." 30/08/2019
Now playing Next Germany German far-right invokes 1989 spirit to woo voters in the east In the eastern states of Saxony and Brandenburg, three decades after the country's reunification, many voters still feel left behind – and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is invoking the spirit of the 1989 revolution to try to win them over. 30/08/2019
Now playing Next Germany Angela Merkel's CDU wins Gorlitz Mayor race, beating far-right AfD The German city of Gorlitz backed Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat candidate Octavian Ursu as mayor in a run-off vote against the far-right AfD party 17/06/2019