Voter turnout in the German elections is lower than in 2013.
Voter turnout in the German national elections was slightly lower at noon (local time, 7 a.m. in Brazil) than at the same time four years ago, the body that oversees the country's elections said in a statement on Sunday; by noon, 41,1 percent of registered voters had already cast their ballots, compared to 41,4 percent in 2013; President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned Germans against letting others decide their country's future by not voting; "Perhaps it has never been clearer that elections are about the future of democracy and Europe," he wrote, amid polls showing that up to a third of Germans were undecided.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Voter turnout in the German national elections was slightly lower at 12 noon (local time, 7 am in Brazil) compared to the same time four years ago, the body that oversees the country's elections said in a statement on Sunday.
By midday, 41,1 percent of registered voters had already cast their ballots, compared with 41,4 percent in 2013. Earlier, North Rhine-Westphalia, the country's most populous state, reported a 3 percent increase in voter turnout.
Germans were urged to vote in a national election on Sunday, in which a seemingly secure fourth term for Chancellor Angela Merkel risks being overshadowed by a far-right party entering parliament for the first time in more than half a century.
After the shock of last year's election results, with Britain voting to leave the European Union and Donald Trump being elected president of the United States, many expect Merkel to reunite a battered liberal Western order, giving her the task of leading a post-Brexit Europe.
Writing in the mass-market newspaper Bild and Sonntag, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned Germans against letting others decide their country's future by abstaining from voting.
"Perhaps it has never been clearer that the elections are about the future of democracy and Europe," he wrote, amid polls showing that up to a third of Germans were undecided.
"If you don't vote, others will decide."
In Germany's proportional electoral system, low voter turnout can boost smaller parties, such as the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), giving them more seats with the same number of votes.
In last year's regional elections, Merkel's conservatives suffered setbacks against the AfD, which capitalized on resentment over its 2015 decision to open Germany's borders to more than a million migrants.
Those setbacks made Merkel, the daughter of a pastor who grew up in communist East Germany, consider whether she should run for re-election.
But with the migration issue under control this year, she decided to throw herself into the campaign, presenting herself as an anchor of stability in an uncertain world.
Visibly happier, Merkel campaigned with renewed conviction: determined to retool the economy for the digital age, prevent future migration crises, and defend a Western order shaken by Trump's victory last November.