Berlin is heading towards one of its most fragmented elections since reunification, with the radical-left Die Linke (The Left) and hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surging as establishment parties that have dominated the capital for decades lose ground.
A Forsa poll published by t-online on Saturday put Die Linke first on 22 per cent, four points ahead of both the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and AfD on 18 per cent. Die Grünen (Greens) stand at 16 per cent and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) at just 12, while Sahra Wagenknecht’s BSW and the liberal–centrist Free Democratic Party (FDP) would miss the 5 per cent threshold.
