Voter turnout in the German election on Sunday stood at 52% in the early afternoon, according to the federal returning officer.

The turnout figure does not include postal voters. The polls remains open until 6 pm (1700 GMT), after which exit polls and some initial results will be released.

The statement did not compared turnout figures to Germany’s last national parliamentary election in 2021, but turnout figures at the same time in the afternoon stood at 36.5% then.

That difference may be due to the high number of postal votes cast back in 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Turnout varied across Germany’s 16 federal states, although election officials in a number of places reported significant increases compared to the last federal election three years ago.

Final turnout in 2021 stood at 76.4%. This year, more than 59 million German citizens are eligible to cast ballots.