After three terms in office, Chancellor Angela Merkel is no stranger to election posters. With a budget of 20 million euros, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is pinning up some 22,000 placards across Germany. The use of a deconstructed German flag brings out the party's patriotism, while the main focus of slogans is on issues such as security, family and work.

The Social Democrats are keeping it classic with their long-time red, square logo. Posters concentrate on topics such as education, family, pension, investment and wage inequality. At the end of their 24-million-euro campaign, the SPD is planning a final crusade ahead of election day, which still remains under wraps.

More than 5 million euros have been spent on the liberal FDP's poster campaign. With their black and white photoshoot, the FDP have gone for thoroughly modern marketing, with one man at the center: Christian Lindner. Voters, however, will have a hard time reading the text heavy posters. "Impatience is also a virtue," reads the slogan.

The Greens have remained faithful to their cause and focused on classic topics such as the environment, integration and peace. "Environment isn't everything. But without the environment, everything is nothing," says the slogan. A mainstay on all of the posters is the party's sunflower logo.

The prize for most controversial placards goes, without doubt, to the right-wing AfD. From afar, the poster showing a smiling, pregnant woman seems innocent until the slogan becomes legible: "New Germans? We make them ourselves." In another poster, set against the background image of three bikini-clad women, the AfD asks: "Burkas? We like bikinis."

The Left party have certainly given their best to use as many fonts as possible. In a combination of font and wordplay, this slogan one reads: "[Colorful] People. Decisively against right-wing hate." Affordable rents, fairer pensions and an end to arms exports are the main issues for the leftist party.

In Germany, animal rights activists block off whole highways to make sure toads can cross them safely. So it's no wonder that a party like "Human Environment Animal Welfare" exists. But maybe the larger Green Party has taken the wind out of the animal protectors' sails a bit. In 2013, they could only sway around 140,000 out of Germany's almost 62 million eligible voters.

This one is slightly confusing. Germany has its own Republicans - the REP, as they're known here, have no relation to the party of US President Donald Trump. German Republicans are right-wing nationalists who call themselves "conservative patriots" and say they're fighting to "preserve our culture and identity."

Yep, this party's simply called The Party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of German satire magazine "Titanic." The party head is Martin Sonneborn (pictured), who won The Party a seat in the European Parliament in 2014. Maybe this can improve The Party's results in the upcoming Bundestag election. In the previous one, it claimed fewer than 79,000 votes.

For the party "Starting now... Democracy through referendums - politics for the people," Switzerland is a big role model. Politicians in the German Referendum Party want all political decisions made by the people. They say this would democratize the "rule of the parties" and would lead to policies focused on the voter instead of pharmaceutical or banking lobbyists.

The MLPD is a small party even though half of Germany was once Communist: While the country was divided from 1949 to 1989, East Germany was ruled by the Socialist Unity Party. Today, the far-left MLPD doesn't play a role in German politics. In the last Bundestag election they got a mere 24,000 votes.

"Alliance C - Christians for Germany" is a Christian party that was created in 2015 when the Christian-fundamentalist Party of Bible-abiding Christians and the Party for Labor, Environment and Family merged. The party advocates what they see as biblical values: citizen freedom, the rule of law, marriage, family and the preservation of God's creation.

In a country so often governed by Christian Democrats, perhaps it’s no surprise that a party called The Humanists is only running in one state. Founded in 2014, with fewer than 200 members, its motto is "freedom, fairness, progress." The party’s lengthy program addresses aspects including an end to government funding for churches in Germany.

Voters almost across the board can vote for the V-Partei³ (the V-cubed party) - the party for "Veränderung" ("change" in English), Vegetarians and Vegans. Founded in 2016 at the Veggieworld trade fair in Munich, the party has about 1,200 members. By 2030, they’d like to see all butchers go out of business, true to their motto: "We love life."

Several countries have launched basic income pilot projects and the new German party Alliance for an Unconditional Basic Income is also asking for just that: a basic income for everyone, no matter whether they work or not. Voters in all 16 federal states can cast their ballot for this alliance - even if it remains up in the air how the party would finance such an income, and how much it would be.

Despite its name, the Berlin-only Bergpartei (mountain party) has nothing to do with climbing. In an alliance with the Über-Party, it’s finally made the electoral roll at the fourth attempt. Members describe themselves as "artists, former squatters, job hoppers, media guys and other creative people" - and for a lack of funds, these leftists design their own campaign posters.

Another Berlin-only party is the spanking new The Urban, a Hip-Hop Party: 253 members and counting, hoping to propagate what links them, the essence of hip-hop music - respect, a sense of community and creativity. The party program has a special focus on anti-racism and anti-discrimination.

You won't see this group on the ballot in the 2017 Bundestag elections anymore: the German Pensioner Party has retired. In the 2013 elections, it got a mere 25,000 votes and in 2016, party officials disbanded it for good.

The leader of the Alternative for Germany, Frauke Petry, said police could use guns as a last resort to prevent illegal border crossings, pointing out "that's the law." What began as a euroskeptic party has turned into an anti-establishment and anti-EU force, claiming up to 25 percent of votes in German state elections in March 2016 and taking second place in Chancellor Angela Merkel's home state.

Many believe Brexit and Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential elections could give new impetus to France's National Front. Established in 1972 and now led by Marine Le Pen, who took over from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, in 2011, the National Front is a nationalist party that uses populist rhetoric to promote its anti-immigration and anti-EU positions.

The leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom, Geert Wilders, is one of Europe's most prominent right-wing politicians. He was convicted in December for asking a crowd in 2014 if they wanted more or fewer Moroccans in the country, but no penalty was imposed. His party is considered anti-EU and anti-Islam. It is leading polls ahead of next year's parliamentary elections and currently holds 15 seats.

Nikos Michaloliakos is the head of Greece's neo-fascist party Golden Dawn. He was arrested in September 2013 along with dozens of other party members and charged with forming a criminal organization. Michaloliakos was released in July 2015. Golden Dawn won 18 seats in parliamentary elections in September 2016. The party holds anti-immigrant views and favors a defense agreement with Russia.

Hungary's anti-immigration, populist and economic protectionist party Jobbik aspires to be in the government by 2018. Now Hungary's third-largest party, it won 20 percent of votes in the last elections held in 2014. It wants a referendum on EU membership. Jobbik also advocates criminalizing "sexual deviancy," submitting a bill targeting homosexuals in 2012. Jobbik is headed by Gabor Vona.

After Trump's election, Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson said in an interview with Swedish TV: "There is a movement in both Europe and the United States where the establishment is being challenged. It is clearly happening here as well." The Sweden Democrats call for restricting immigration, are against allowing Turkey to join the EU and want a referendum on EU membership.

Norbert Hofer of Austria's nationalist Freedom Party lost the recent presidential runoff by a mere 30,000 votes, after being front-runner in the first round. Former Green party leader Alexander Van der Bellen won 50.3 percent of the vote, with Hofer gaining 49.7 percent. The Freedom Party's leader campaigns for the strengthening of the country's borders and limiting benefits for immigrants.

The leader of the hard-right People's Party - Our Slovakia, Marian Kotleba, has said, "Even one immigrant is one too many." On another occasion, he called NATO a "criminal organization." This Slovak party favors leaving the EU as well as the eurozone. It won 8 percent of the vote in March 2016 elections, securing 14 seats in the country's 150-member parliament.