Germany goes to the polls to decide Angela Merkel’s successor

A coalition is inevitable but there are likely to be months of complicated negotiations in the months ahead

Polling stations have opened in Germany as the nation decides who will succeed in the race to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor after 16 years.

As final rallies were held across the country by the the main candidates on Saturday, with polls showing the lead held by the Social Democrats' Olaf Scholz over Armin Laschet of the Christian Democrats to have narrowed to a tiny margin, voter participation among the more than 60 million Germans eligible to vote, was predicted to be high.