"It is clear that this [the U.S.] government does not care much about the fate of Europe," says Friedrich Merz, who is set to be Germany's next chancellor.

Germany’s economy is stalled and its politics fractured. But it sees an opening for a new chancellor to lead Europe’s response to a changing America.

German citizens aged 18 and up can vote. At least 59.2 million people in the nation of 84 million are eligible, about 2.3 million of them for the first time. Polling stations are open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. Four candidates are bidding to be Germany’s next leader in Sunday’s election.

Germany's mainstream political parties lost support while the far-right AfD gained ground in one of the last polls published before the election on Sunday, pointing to likely tricky coalition building that could drag on for months.