(CNN) -- Voters in Germany will go to the polls this weekend for the first time since the eurozone crisis left the single currency -- and much of the continent -- teetering on the brink of chaos. While the campaign hasn't exactly set the world on fire -- voter apathy could prove a major issue -- what happens in ballot boxes across the nation Sunday has the potential to change the future of the euro, and of Europe. Who's in the running? Angela Merkel, the country's current chancellor, is campaigning for a third term in office. Were she to win, she would be on course to overtake Margaret Thatcher as Europe's longest-serving female political leader.
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German voters will elect a new government Sunday
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Angela Merkel, of conservative Christian Democrats, seeking third term as chancellor
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Peer Steinbrueck, of center-left Social Democrats, looking to challenger her
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Election outcome has potential to change future direction of euro, Europe
Gaffe-prone @placeholder caused the biggest controversy of the 2013 campaign when a photograph of him gesturing with his middle finger graced the cover of a popular magazine.