The centre-right alliance of Germany's conservative leader, Angela Merkel, has re-established a slight lead in the polls over its left wing rivals in advance of Sunday's elections in the country.
The latest survey by the Allensbach Institute, likely to be the last before the election, put support for Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats, their sister Christian Social Union and their preferred coalition partners, the liberal Free Democrats (FDP), at 49.5% or enough for a slim majority under Germany's electoral system.
It compares to a combined support of 48% for all the other major parties, including 32.5% for the Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, 7% for their Green partners and 8.5% for the far-left Left Party.
The poll echoed the results of another survey which gave a centre-right Merkel-led coalition support of between 48% and 51%.
The poll findings are a huge boost for 51-year-old Mrs Merkel, whose party held a commanding double-digit lead in opinion polls several weeks ago that has fallen after dynamic campaigning by Mr Schroeder and furious attacks by his party.
Mrs Merkel says she needs a governing coalition with the FDP to ensure freedom to push through aggressive economic reforms she hopes will kick-start Germany's sluggish economy.
The alternative, should her preferred grouping fail to win a parliamentary majority, is a grand coalition with Mr Schroeder's party, who disagree with much of her programme.
If elected, Mrs Merkel would be the country's first ever female chancellor.
With the race so tight, Mr Schroeder and Mrs Merkel have vowed to break from usual practice and campaign through the weekend.
Voting ends at 5pm Irish time on Sunday, with the first exit polls being released at that time.
