BERLIN, Spet. 24 (Xinhua) -- The conservative union led by German sitting Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday defended its dominant role in Bundestag (German parliament) with 32.5 percent of the vote, according to preliminary exit poll.
Meanwhile, the union's main rival, Germany's center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by former European Parliament president Martin Schulz, took 20 percent of the vote, said the poll.
In the last Bundestag election of 2013, Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party with its sister Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) party secured 41.5 percent of the vote.
About 73,500 polling stations across the country opened at 8:00 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) and closed at 6:00 p.m. (1600 GMT).
Data released by German authority showed that as of 2:00 p.m. local time (1200 GMT), 41.1 percent of eligible voters cast their votes. This figure does not include the votes of postal voters.
