The first exit polls show a razor-thin majority for Red/Green in Germany. ARD puts it at 301 seats, ZDF at 303. Absolute majority is at 300. SPD loses some votes, CDU gains. Big surprise: Greens do better than expected. FDP is doing poorly (Möllemann-effect?). Good news: the communist PDS will likely not make it into parliament.

This is going to be very very close.

UPDATE: ARD now has CDU/FDP in with a razor-thin margin. ZDF has SPD/Green on exactly 300. In German, this is called a "Zitterpartie:" a trembling party. (as in trembling for nerves).

UPDATE 2: ARD has CDU/FDP down to exactly 300, with Red/Green on 298 and PDS on 2. Those 2 come from direct wins in constituencies. ZDF still at 300 for SPD/Greens.

UPDATE 3: ARD has CDU/FDP now on 299, Red/Green on 299 and PDS on 2. A hung parliament, with the 2 communist MPs deciding the fate of the next government. Oh boy.

UPDATE 4: Both ARD and ZDF now have CDU/FDP on 301. ZDF puts Red/Green on 299 with no seats for the PDS, while the ARD still gives them 2.

UPDATE 5: Pendulum swinging again. ARD has Red/Green on 300, CDU/FDP on 298 and PDS on 2. ZDF meanwhile puts Red/Green on 304, CDU/FDP on 297 and PDS on 2. The ZDF numbers don't add up, unless they're taking quirks of the electoral system into account which can change the number of seats (possible).

UPDATE 6: ARD has now added seats too, putting Red/Green on 302, CDU/FDP on 299, PDS on 2.

UPDATE 7: Looks like it's all over. ZDF now has Red/Green on 306, with CDU/FDP on 298. Bah. I think the FDP's poor showing is a large factor; at one point, they were well on their way to get over 10% of the vote, instead of the 7.5% now. And for that blame falls on Möllemann and his Jew-baiting, and Westerwelle for not getting rid of his when it all started months ago. Oh well. Germany will remain irrelevant in international affairs though following the vile anti-Americanism of the left's campaign. Just ignore the bastards.