The German elections are just around the corner and the exit polls look closer than ever. These elections will be monumental for Germany as Angela Merkel, who has dominated European politics, will step down after 16 years as chancellor. But who will succeed her remains unclear.

       Unlike British politics where an outright majority is usually won, the German parliament is typically made up of two or three coalition parties.

       Germany uses a mixed-member proportional representation system in its elections.

       This combines first-past-the-post elected seats with a proportional party list to make sure the composition of its parliament mirrors the national popular vote.

       After the elections on September 26, negotiations will take place with the party that secures the most votes and others smaller parties to form an overall majority.

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       The current majority party is the centre-right CDU lead by Angela Merkel.

       A two-party coalition with the conservative CDU and the German Greens had looked to be the most likely outcome.

       But recently the left-wing SPD party has been making ground.

       The leader of SPD, Olaf Scholz, has shone in the latest televised debates pushing his party’s popularity forward.

       While Angela Merkel’s successor, Armin Laschet hasn’t been doing so well.

       In recent weeks Mr Scholz’s party has taken a narrow lead in the polls.

       According to the latest polls by wahlrecht.de, SPD is forecast to win 23 percent of the vote.

       Followed by CDU/CSU with 15 percent and then the Greens with 17 percent.

       Other more minor parties which could be used to form a coalition have been doing well.

       FDP are predicted to win 8 percent, AfD 11 percent while Linke is expected to secure 14 percent.

       If the latest polls are proved right, this will be a big step down for the CDU.

       Support for the party has been falling since February this year.

       It dropped further still when Armin Laschet was chosen as a candidate to take over from the much-loved Angela Merkel in April.

       German federal elections are proportional, this means the vote share shown by pollsters should be seen as translating fairly directly to the share of seats in the next parliament.

       Parties who fail to secure more than five percent of the vote, or if they do not win more than three directly elected constituency seats, aren’t given proportional parliamentary seats.