Germany went to the polls on Sunday in a national election to determine Angela Merkel's successor. 

A whopping 40 percent of the German voters said they were undecided before the elections officially began. And opinion polls suggest a close race between the center-left Social Democrats [SPD] and Merkel's CDU-CSU conservative alliance.

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Current polls suggest that the CDU-CSU alliance will gain 23 percent of votes and the SPD will receive 25 percent, but the actual outcome is still uncertain. 

Both parties are expected to fall short of a majority, meaning that despite today's elections, voters can look forward to months of coalition negotiations before Merkel's successor is decided.

The Green party, which started strong earlier this year, is polling at only 17 percent of the vote, but either the CDU-CSU alliance or the SPD could ally with them depending on who is on top.

Until then, the three main candidates - Olaf Scholz, Armin Laschet and Annalena Baerbock- have cast their ballots along with some of the country's 60.4 million eligible voters.

Olaf Scholz

Olaf Scholz is a candidate for the centre-left SPD who painted himself as the successor of Merkel despite not being a member of her party.

He has been called "Scholzomat" for his robotic speeches and is not the most charismatic candidate to hit the trail. However, unlike his peers, he has avoided campaign scandal and has quickly become one of the favorites in the election.

He served as vice-chancellor and finance minister under Merkel, and he sported her famous "rhombus" hand gesture in a magazine photoshoot, further aligning himself with her.

Scholz's party is left of Merkel's, and he has backed some of their policies, including an increase in the minimum wage and a wealth tax.

He cast his vote in Potsdam, his constituency.

Armin Laschet

Armin Laschet is a member of Merkel's party, the CDU, and a defender of multiculturalism. He backed Merkel for her decision to accept refugees into Germany in 2015.

He has also defined himself as a "passionate European."

But mistakes on the campaign trail have cost him the lead and may potentially result in his party's worst election results since World War II.

He was criticized for being seen laughing during a tribute to the victims of recent flooding in North Rhine-Westphalia, where he serves as the regional leader.

He has also been criticized for his response to the pandemic.

Despite this, his party is still trailing the SPD in what is appearing to be a close race.

He cast his ballot in Aachen, his hometown.

Annalena Baerbock

Annalena Baerbock is the 40-year-old candidate for the Green party. She started her campaign among raised fears around climate change, which gave her a strong advantage.

Her party wants to decrease the country's timeline to ban coal production from 2038 to 2030.

Baerbock has proven popular among young voters. And because of this, the Green party could double their percentage score from the previous election four years ago from 8.9 percent to 17 percent.

But she has fallen short of the expected win for the top post, caused in part because of her inexperience and a plagiarism scandal.

She cast her vote in Potsdam.