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 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.
