Germany goes to the polls today to elect a new Parliament. Chancellor Angela Merkel and her main challenger, Martin Schulz have made their final appeals to voters ahead of the elections. Both have urged Germans not to back the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.<br/><br/>The two candidates for chancellor made their last-ditch bids for support, pleading with Germany's 61.5 million voters to cast their ballots in the long-awaited national election. The populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has grown its voter base in both districts, beating Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in state elections last year.<br/><br/>Opinion polls put the CDU and its sister Christian Social Union (CSU) party in Bavaria well ahead of the SPD, with the AfD posing a serious challenge to the Left party for third place.