Wife of would-be German chancellor only sees him on TV or Instagram

Charlotte Merz, the wife of the front-runner to become Germany's next chancellor, said on Friday she hardly sees her husband Friedrich during the ongoing election campaign, only catching glimpses of him on television or Instagram.

Charlotte Merz was speaking at the closing event of the campaign for Merz's conservative bloc in the western city of Oberhausen in the couple's home state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Friday evening.

Germans head to the polls on Sunday to elect a new parliament, or Bundestag.

Before Merz was due to deliver his speech at the Oberhausen Arena, his party's general secretary in North Rhine-Westphalia, Paul Ziemiak, asked Charlotte Merz, who was sitting in the audience, how the couple copes with the pressure.

The response from the potential next chancellor's wife: Both partners support each other. "Ultimately, the source of strength is our homebase in the Sauerland," Mrs Merz, who is a judge by profession, said.

The couple resides in the city of Arnsberg in the High Sauerland region of North Rhine-Westphalia. Friedrich Merz has already announced that he intends to keep his primary residence there if he becomes the next chancellor.