Who are Germany's top candidates in the 2025 election?

The lifelong Social Democrat considers himself an efficient pragmatist. He ran his own law firm and looks back on a decadeslong political career, holding government positions from mayor of Hamburg to, on the federal level, labor minister, finance minister and chancellor. Scholz has failed to shake off the widespread perception that he is an arrogant bureaucrat and is polling low in public support.

A conservative Christian Democrat, Merz is the oldest candidate for chancellor that a German party has put forth in over 50 years. A staunch Catholic and business lawyer from western Germany's rural Sauerland, Merz looks back on a long career in private enterprise, including a stint at one of the world's largest asset management corporations, BlackRock, as well as several years in the Bundestag.

With his trademark tousled and unshaven look, Robert Habeck seems approachable. The pragmatic politician has no problem admitting his own mistakes. It was Habeck who found simple and heartfelt words to explain the government's political decisions to the public and offset the perceived arrogance of his coalition partners. Before his political career, he was an author, translator and philosopher.

Weidel, co-chair of the far-right Alternative for Germany, holds a doctorate in economics, worked and studied in China, and embraces euro- and NATO-skeptic positions. Weidel is renowned for provocation and incendiary anti-immigrant rhetoric. She lives in Switzerland in a civil partnership with a woman from Sri Lanka. Together, they have two adopted children.

The finance minister who helped bring down Scholz's Cabinet, Lindner studied political science, founded a small advertising business and is a reserve officer in the air force. He became chairman of the neoliberal Free Democrats at the age of only 34 and remains the party's unchallenged leader. He has a reputation as social media-savvy and stylish and is known for his love of sports cars.

Wagenknecht, a former leader of the Left, is a frequent guest on political talk shows and a master of populist rhetoric, deriding other politicians as stupid and hypocritical. She espouses conservative social views and left-inspired economic policies, as well as anti-migration positions. She is skeptical of climate change and critical of NATO and dominates her eponymous Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance.

Jan van Aken, born in Western Germany, holds a doctorate in biology and worked as a biological weapons inspector for the United Nations from 2004 to 2006. He was a lawmaker for the Left party in the Bundestag from 2009 to 2017. He has been the co-chair of the Left since October and is fighting for his party's survival at the polls.