Merkel's conservatives seen ahead of Social Democrats in poll

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives were ahead of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) in an opinion poll published on Friday, seven months ahead of what is expected to be a tight national election.

The Ipsos poll put Merkel's conservative bloc on 32 percent while the SPD, which has surged in recent weeks since nominating former European Parliament President Martin Schulz as its candidate, was on 30 percent.

The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany was in third place on 12 percent. The far-left Linke was on 10 percent while the Greens were on 7 percent and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) were on 5 percent.

The survey of 1,045 people was carried out from Feb. 17 to 20.