Eyes on Germany's tight election race

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her beleaguered rival Martin Schulz embarked on a final push for votes on Sept. 22 ahead of a weekend election, both seeking to beat back a challenge from the emboldened hard-right.

Germans are set to vote in a general election on Sept. 24 after a campaign which has seen parties spar over how closely refugees and immigrants should integrate into the national culture, sparking fierce discussions.

Fears that apathy could boost the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the elections have driven the 63-year-old Merkel, who polls say will cruise by a double-digit margin to a fourth term, and her main rival Schulz, 61, a former European Parliament president and leader of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), to urge their backers to go out and vote.

With many voters viewing a fourth term for Merkel as almost inevitable and put off by a turgid campaign - occasionally punctured by heckling and tomato hurling in protest at Merkel's refugee policy - pollsters say turnout may be low.

A GMS poll on Sept. 21 said 34 percent were not planning to vote or were undecided, higher than the 29 percent who did not cast ballots in the last election in 2013.

"My request to everyone is that they vote, and vote for those parties that adhere 100 percent to our constitution," Merkel told MDR radio on Sept. 21, pointing to the AfD.

The party has been running at between nine and 12 percent in surveys. The GMS poll and one other also published on Sept. 21 showed it chalking up gains that look set to make it the third largest bloc in parliament. 

Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and some commentators have likened the AfD to Hitler's Nazis. The AfD dismisses such comparisons.

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