German election live updates: Germans head to polls in wide-open election to succeed Merkel

A pair of climate activists ended a hunger strike outside the German parliament after Olaf Scholz, the chancellor candidate for the center-left Social Democrats, agreed to a hold a discussion after the vote.

Henning Jeschke, 21, who began the hunger strike in late August, said Scholz called him Saturday and promised to hold a public meeting on climate issues within the next four weeks. Jeschke was among activists who pitched tents in front of the Reichstag on Aug. 30 demanding to meet with the top three candidates about efforts to tackle the climate crisis. All three candidates initially declined and most ended their hunger strikes on Thursday.

But Jeschke and 24 year-old Lea Bonasera, who joined the hunger strike last week, raised the stakes, announcing they would stop drinking liquids in addition to refusing food. The singled out Scholz since his party was leading in the polls heading into Sunday’s election. Greens candidate Annalena Baerbock met with the activists on Thursday, according to Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats have narrowed a gap in the polls in Germany’s elections as the country’s outgoing leader of 16 years joined her beleaguered wannabe successor on the campaign trail.

The conservative Christian Democrats, who run in an alliance with their smaller Bavarian sister party, are projected to win 22 percent of the vote in the latest poll by Forsa, edging closer to the center-left Social Democrats at 25 percent. Within the poll’s margin of error, that puts the race to close to call. Politico’s aggregate ‘Poll of polls’ points to a similar gap.

The Forsa poll put Germany’s Greens third on 16 percent, which still would be the environmentalist party’s best result. The Greens chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock, 40, has been dogged by questions over her CV and plagiarism accusations.

Angela Merkel has been called many things during her 16 years as German chancellor. Soft and cuddly were rarely in the mix. But now, as Merkel prepares to leave office, a German toy company has unveiled a commemorative teddy bear that’s exactly that.

Hermann-Spielwaren — a century-old, family-owned toy manufacturer based in Coburg, Germany — began selling the 500 limited-edition bears in August. They sold out this week.

Roughly 15 inches tall, the bear sports a blond wig in the chancellor’s bobbed style, a beaded necklace in the colors of the German flag and a slight smile. The bear’s paws are positioned in the “Merkel-Raute” — the diamond shape considered to be Merkel’s signature hand gesture.

She will receive a bear in a ceremony sometime after Sunday’s election, said Martin Hermann, the company’s owner. On the bottom of its foot will be embroidered the number 16 to mark her years in office.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief has warned Russia against carrying out “malicious cyber activities.” The message by Josep Borell was not specifically aimed at potential threats to Germany’s election. But it underscored the concerns across Europe after repeated data breaches that security officials blame on Russian hackers.

Hackers have tried to steal data and access the personal accounts of government officials, politicians, journalists and activists, Borrell said in statement Friday, calling them attempts to “undermine our democratic institutions and processes.”

He linked the attacks to the Ghostwriter hacking group, which German officials have said is associated with Russia’s military intelligence service the GRU. Germany has previously expressed concern that Russia could try to undermine German democracy or sway public opinion toward Moscow-friendly candidates.

No party is expected to take more than a quarter of the vote, meaning that at least two parties -- and possibly three -- will have to band together to get a majority they need to govern.

As soon as the votes are counted, negotiations will begin. In Germany, various possible coalitions have nicknames based on the combination of party colors.

Expect to hear a lot about potential coalitions like the “traffic light” – if Social Democrats (red) come out on top and seek to join with the Greens (green) and the business-friendly Free Democrats (yellow).

Or if it’s the Christian Democrats (black) it could be “Jamaica” – a nod to the country’s tri-color flag – with a possible tie up with the Greens and the Free Democrats.

But there are still many wild cards. The Greens say they want to partner with the Social Democrats. The Free Democrats would prefer the Christian Democrats.