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Some candidates, like Mr. Steinmeier, have already cast their ballots in sunny weather, which analysts say should have a positive effect on the overall turnout.

But with 62 million eligible voters and their potential for surprises,  Merkel told a rally of some one thousand people on Saturday in Berlin that "we are going to fight to the end because every vote counts,"

"We are the only party in Germany to govern the economy sensibly," she said, adding that it was ultimately up to voters to decide how quickly they wanted to emerge from the crisis.

The chancellor's last-minute plea followed the latest opinion polls which showed her party had conceded some ground to their rival Social Democrats (SPD), with whom they have shared a loveless coalition since the last federal election in 2005.

Voters have until 6 p.m. to cast their ballots and shortly thereafter the first returns will be available.

Seeking a new alliance

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  "Angie" is likely to win a second term in office, but she will need a coalition partner

This time, Merkel is hoping to garner enough votes to form an alliance with the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP).

"We can only have stability with a coalition between a strong Unon and the FDP," she said.

But the prospect of that power-sharing agreement, which enjoyed a good rating in the polls last month, has grown steadily less popular with the electorate in the run-up to the election.

That, however, did not prevent liberal leader Guido Westerwelle from using his closing rally in the city of Cologne on Saturday to optimistically declare that these were the "final hours in opposition" for his party.

He said the end to the grand coalition would bring with it the end of an era of "higher taxes and more bureaucracy."

A grand-coalition revival?

The SPD candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been gaining ground in the past few days. And although there is every indication that Merkel will win a second term in office, there has been increasing talk of another round of the grand-coalition.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  Steinmeier's supporters think that Germany would be better off without "Angie"In a speech to voters in Dresden on Saturday, Steinmeier warned voters against electing a center-right government.

"Those who don't want this country to be torn apart into winners and losers must go and vote tomorrow," he said. "Those who want to prevent a center-right coalition must get up off the sofa and go to the polling station and vote SPD."

Presidential call for high voter turnout

There has been speculation among election analysts that voter turnout tomorrow could be even lower than in 2005 when 77.7 percent of those eligible cast a ballot.

In a letter published in the mass circulation Bild am Sonntag newspaper on election day, the German President Horst Koehler has appealed to the electorate not to be apathetic.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:  The posters can come down as it's up to the electorate now

"Non-voters are not represented in parliament," Koehler said. "If you don't vote, there is nobody in parliament to put forward your concerns,"

He played on the collective conscience of the modern electorate, reminding voters that their right to have their say was not always a given.

"People died in the name of free, secret and equal voting rights," he said. "It is our democracy and we shouldn't weaken it."

tkw/AP/dpa/AFP/reuters
Editor: Andreas Illmer