With less than four weeks before Germany’s federal election, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his conservative challenger Friedrich Merz, who is leading polls, will take their contentious battle over how to crack down on illegal migration to parliament.

Chancellor Scholz says rival Merz joining forces with far-right party in parliament to introduce stricter migration legislation ahead of Feb. 23 elections - Anadolu Ajansı

Friedrich Merz, the country's favourite to become next chancellor, said he would collect votes from all parties in order to push his five-point migration plan through parliament despite Chancellor Olaf Scholz's strong opposition.

Opening the door to leaning on support from the far-right is a gamble for Merz, who believes that his increasingly radical stance on migration will win back right-wingers who are tempted to vote for the AfD. But in so doing, he could risk losing support from the centre.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German election frontrunner Friedrich Merz succeeded on Wednesday in getting a motion passed in parliament that calls for a migration crackdown including the rejection of asylum seekers at the country's land borders.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's main challenger in Germany's upcoming election plans to put proposals for a tougher migration policy to parliament on Wednesday, a maneuver aimed at piling pressure on the governing parties that has brought accusations that he's breaking commitments to shun the far right.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has described a vote in parliament on a motion to tighten migration policy passed with support from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) a "bad sign" for the country.