Millions of Germans are voting Sunday to determine who will control the country’s government, with Germany’s center-left Christian Democratic Union (CDU) expected to garner the biggest vote share—and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) projected to nab a historic number of votes after garnering the endorsement of billionaire Elon Musk.

The leading candidate, Friedrich Merz, a conservative who has adopted many of the AfD’s hard-line positions on immigration, used his closing statement of the debate to promise his voters that he would never allow the AfD into his government. Under him, he said, the firewall would hold.

The AfD’s rise remains a significant concern in German politics, with mainstream parties working to prevent its integration into government. While figures like JD Vance and Elon Musk have expressed strong support for the party,