Some German voters struggle to pick next leader

Now decisions have to be made that will affect the next generations. In Berlins Mitte district, 48-year-old social worker Wiebke Bergmann said that this election is really special, I think, because Angela Merkel is not running again. She said I really thought hard about which candidate I want as next chancellor until this morning I hadnt made up my mind.

Voters are delivering a mixed verdict on the era of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel as they choose a new German parliament, and some are struggling with the choice of potential new leaders.

Polls opened Sunday after a rollercoaster campaign. Recent surveys point to a very close race between Merkel's center-right Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats, with the Greens trailing in third.

In Berlin's Kreuzberg district, a traditional leftwing stronghold, Jan Kemper, a 41-year-old manager at an online bank, said the climate crisis and Germany's slow pace of digitalization were among his main concerns.

He praised Merkel's crisis management style but said that key issues were left unattended.

"This election is extremely important," he said. "Previously, elections set the course for the next two to four years. Now decisions have to be made that will affect the next generations." In Berlin's Mitte district, 48-year-old social worker Wiebke Bergmann said that "this election is really special, I think because Angela Merkel is not running again." She said: "I really thought hard about which candidate I want as next chancellor — until this morning I hadn't made up my mind. None of the three really convinced me."