With Merkel going, candidates fail to inspire German voters

A large chunk of German's electorate remains undecided going into a federal election that will determine who succeeds Angela Merkel as chancellor after her 16 years in office

BERLIN -- It's not that politics bore him; quite the opposite. But Christoph Gillitzer is stumped by whom to vote for in Germany's federal election next month. The retired engineer says he usually backs the underdog, yet the choices on offer Sept. 26 don't have him convinced. “It's really difficult this time,” he said on a dreary Berlin morning this week. Like Gillitzer, a large chunk of the German electorate remains undecided going into a parliamentary election that will determine who succeeds Angela Merkel as chancellor after her 16 years in office.