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.

The Sunday vote comes amid an economy in the doldrums, big questions over Europe's security posture, and a surging far-right.

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.