Polls are open across Germany as the world’s third largest economy chooses a new leader to guide it through an era of febrile immigration debates and souring relations with Washington.

The Christian Democratic Union and its allied Christian Social Union secured the largest share of votes in the German federal election, exit polls show.

The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leads the polls with an estimated 29% of the vote, going by the exit polls, while the incumbent Social Democratic Party (SPD) is third with 16%.