The 17th German Federal Elections tagged: "German Federal Elections 2009," is fixed for September 27th to elect members of the Bundestag Federal Parliament.
The general campaign has been mainly dominated by the two leading political parties - which incidentally formed the current ruling grand coalition - the Christian Democratic (CDU) and the Social Democratic (SPD) parties. However, it is rather the minority parties that have injected the greatest uncertainty in to the elections.
The two main contenders for the Chancellor slot are, the incumbent Madam Angela Merkel of the CDU who, interestingly, is being challenged by the Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister, Frank Walter steinmoior of the SPD.
A tour of some communities and political parties in the Bavarian State capital of Munich by a team of international journalists on Monday and Tuesday revealed that unlike elections in Africa where most monuments and trees
along the streets are decorated with party colours and posters, it is not so in the case of Germany.
Most political parties and candidates rather used small posters planted at vantage locations, especially near traffic lights and road intersections.
Mr Markus Zorzi, Executive Manager of the Christian Social Union (CSU)at Munich, said the party was sure of victory.
He said they had ruled the Bavarain State since 1945, except for a short interruption of three years (1944 to 1947), and expected to win about 57 per cent this year to pave the way for the sister party, the DCU, to win at the Federal level.
During discussions with international journalists at the Party headquarters, Mr Zorzi identified the economic crisis, nuclear power,
unemployment, taxes, and foreign policy directives as the main issues driving the elections.
Mr Nikolaus Neumaier, Head of Department of Bavarian Politics explained that in all polls conducted the CDU, CSU and FDP are clearly ahead of the other traditional coalition partners, namely the SPD and the Greens, with an average vote share of around 50 per cent.
He said due to election threshold of about 5 per cent, and the possible overhang seats, a vote share of between 47 and 48 per cent is expected to be sufficient to attain a majority of the Bundestag seats.