Berlin to Vote in Parliamentary Election on Sunday

Berliners will go to the polls on Sunday to vote in a state parliamentary election that could deal another blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The voting in Berlin, the last state election this year, will elect members to the 149-seat state parliament of Berlin.

Incumbent Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) will lead to the polls his "grand coalition" of SPD and the local branch of Merkel’s CDU.

The most recent polls, published by ZDF and the Berliner Zeitung on Thursday, put the center-left SPD in the lead with 23-24 percent of votes.

Merkel’s center-right CDU is expected to poll 17-18 percent of votes, followed by the Greens with 15-17 percent and the far-left Linke with 14.5-15 percent.

The ruling Christian Democrats suffered a humiliating defeat in the chancellor’s home state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in early September when they were beaten into third place by the far-right Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD).

The anti-migrant AfD gained prominence across the country amid concerns over the federal government’s open-arms policy on refugees. It is expected to gain 13-14 percent in the Berlin legislature.

According to the Berliner Zeitung, Berlin’s SPD-CDU coalition looks set to lose its majority in the parliament. The next legislature will likely be a so-called red-red-green coalition of SPD, Linke and the Greens.