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| Angela Merkel 'in the lead' in German poll | Angela Merkel 'in the lead' in German poll |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) have polled strongly in federal elections in Germany, but may not be able to form their preferred coalition, exit polls suggest. | Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) have polled strongly in federal elections in Germany, but may not be able to form their preferred coalition, exit polls suggest. |
| The CDU is estimated to have taken about 42% of the vote. | The CDU is estimated to have taken about 42% of the vote. |
| But its current partner, the Free Democrat party, may not have secured the 5% needed to enter parliament. | But its current partner, the Free Democrat party, may not have secured the 5% needed to enter parliament. |
| So Mrs Merkel may be forced to seek a grand coalition with the Social Democrats - estimated to have won 25%. | |
| Exit polls for ARD public television put the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) on 4.7%, which if confirmed would be a disaster for the junior coalition partner, leaving it with no national representation in parliament. | |
| It was beaten by the Green Party (8%) and the former communist Left Party (8.5%), and even, according to exit polls, the new Alternative fuer Deutschland, which advocates withdrawal from the euro currency and took 4.9%, just short of the parliamentary threshold. | |
| Turnout appeared to be higher than at the last federal election. At 14:00 (12:00 GMT) it measured 41.4% of eligible voters, compared to 36.1% at the same point in 2009. | |
| Mrs Merkel has made clear she would be prepared to work with the Social Democrats (SPD) in a grand coalition, as she did in 2005-09. | |
| The SPD has been more reluctant to consider linking up with the CDU again. The party leader, Peer Steinbrueck, was finance minister in the previous grand coalition, but has said he would not serve in such a government again. | |
| The SPD would prefer to enter coalition with the Green Party, but does not appear to have the votes to do so, and has ruled out a three-way alliance including the Left Party (Die Linke). | |
| Analysts think the SPD will agree on a coalition with the CDU. |