The German Chancellor is looking to serve a fourth term as the country’s leader and while her centre-right Christian Democrat party is riding high in the polls with a sizeable lead, her record as leader is increasingly coming under the microscope from her opponents.
Die Linke, who are currently running third behind the Social Democrats under former EU bigwig Martin Schulz, went on the offensive at a campaign rally in Rostock.
Sahra Wagenknecht, 48, the party’s deputy chairwoman, condemned Angela Merkel and her slogan of “good work for good wages”.
Ms Wagenknecht mocked Mrs Merkel’s strategy and said: “This is taking the p**s out of the voters.”
She said: “Forty per cent of today’s population have less income than they did at the end of the 1990s, with one in five working in the low-wage sector in Germany.
“This German Chancellor does not deserve any extension.”
Ms Wagenknecht also attacked Mrs Merkel’s record on pensions, advising the chancellor to send her advisors to Austria, where she claimed the pension system is “much better”.
The left-wing leader said: “Everyone, including self-employed and public officials, pay into a large budget, therefore the pension is also on average €800 higher.”
One member of the audience, speaking to the newspaper Der Standard, said: “I like what the Left is doing, they really care about us.
“I appreciate Mrs Merkel and her work, but it is not true that everyone in Germany is doing well.”
Die Linke have set out various campaign policies, including a minimum wage of €12 instead of the currently €8.84 and a minimum pension.
To pay for this, those who earn more than €1million are to pay tax at 75 per cent.
Ms Wagenknecht said: ”Vote for the left, so that there won’t be another great coalition.”
She also lashed out at rival Mr Schulzl, saying he would not make any great changes to the German economy either.
While Mrs Merkel is riding high in the polls, with around an 11-point lead, she has faced hostility as she has been on the campaign trail, often being heckled and booed at rallies around the country.
At a rally in Erlangen on Wednesday, protestors chanted and held banners that read “Merkel belongs in prison”.
While Mrs Merkel may have a commanding lead, the latest figures suggest 46 per cent of people are still undecided about how they will vote.
Additional reporting by Monika Pallenberg