BERLIN, December 28. /TASS/. The incumbent German head of government, Olaf Scholz, is standing increasingly fewer chances to be reelected chancellor, as the contest between him and CDU leader Friedrich Merz is intensifying, Bild reported.

While the Socialist chancellor currently enjoys the support of a mere 14-16% of voters, 31-33% of supporters said they are ready to vote for his key rival, narrowing the gap between the two candidates in opinion polls to 15-19 points, opinion polls show.

For comparison, ahead of the 2021 election, the CDU/CSU bloc enjoyed the support of 27% voters in opinion polls and came ahead of Scholz’s party by just a 9.5% margin. Back then, the leader of the Social Democrats managed to leave his rivals behind, a breakthrough experts say is next to impossible to repeat.

"While Scholz can still catch up [with Merz], he can no longer outpace him, as the gap between the SPD (Social Democratic Party - TASS) and the CDU/CSU is too large to overcome," said Hermann Binkert, who heads the INSA institute. Given no major mistakes on the part of Merz or the CDU/CSU, Scholz will "lose the post of chancellor," he believes.

Earlier, Scholz said in an interview with t-online that he would like to be elected for another term as the German head of government and that he was making every effort to win the coming election. He argued that he has "the longest track record as a government official, a clear-cut policy course and strong nerves."

On December 27, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier dissolved parliament and set early elections for February 23 after the Bundestag passed a vote of no confidence in Scholz.