The television studio is pictured prior to the TV debate hosted by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, main candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Friedrich Merz, main candidate and chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), (not in picture) in Berlin on February 9, 2025, ahead of parliamentary elections due to take place on February 23, 2025. (Photo by Michael Kappeler / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MICHAEL KAPPELER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)