German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and opposition leader Friedrich Merz appeal to voters in the run-up to Sunday’s election.

German politicians made their final appeals to voters on Saturday on the eve of crucial snap elections in which conservatives are the frontrunners and the far right is forecast to make gains.

Election frontrunner Friedrich Merz from the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party on Saturday promised to revive Europe’s largest economy and defend Europe’s interests in the face of a confrontational US administration.

Merz said, “With me, Germany will have a strong voice in the European Union again.”

“Europe must be a player and not ask maybe to get a seat at a side table,” he told a jubilant crowd in Munich.

“No, we must sit at the main table; and we must safeguard our interests against Russia, against China, and if necessary also with respect to America.”

“Europe must be a player and not ask maybe to get a seat at a side table,” he said, adding, “No, we must sit at the main table.”

However, he said, “We will only gain respect in this European Union again if we finally overcome our country’s economic weakness.” Which he added was “overwhelmingly homemade”.

The CDU party is currently leading polls and holding 30 percent.

Sunday’s vote comes at a time of upheaval for both Europe as a whole and its biggest economy, specifically, as US President Donald Trump has ended a united Western stance on the Ukraine war by reaching out to Russia.

Trump’s threats of a trade war spell more trouble ahead for Germany, after its economy has shrunk for the past two years, and as it faces bitter social polarisation on the flashpoint issues of immigration and security.

Sunday’s vote is being held more than half a year ahead of schedule after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way coalition between his Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP collapsed in early November.

The vote looks set to deliver a historic result for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has been polling in second place at about 20 percent, boosted by anger over a spate of deadly knife attacks and car rammings blamed on immigrants.

A 30-year-old Spanish man was wounded in a stabbing incident at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial on Friday. Just 10 days before the election, an Afghan man was arrested for driving a car through a street rally in Munich, killing two people.

The AfD has had strong support from Trump’s inner circle, with tech billionaire Elon Musk and Vice President JD Vance speaking out in support of the party.

Halting the rise of the AfD was a “central task” of the election, Scholz told constituents in Potsdam.

“Uncertainty about the future has increased and the answer to this must be to ensure that our country is still as far ahead in 10, 20, 30 years as we are today,” Scholz urged at the campaign event.

The incumbent in the chancellor’s office stressed his support for Ukraine and called for more spending to boost Germany’s defences.

“We have not left Ukraine alone, that should not and must not happen in the future,” said Scholz, whose three years in office have largely been defined by Russia’s invasion.

“We must ensure that Europe is strong enough on its own so that we can use deterrence to prevent war in Europe.”

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Al Jazeera and news agencies