Overview

• About 13.7 million residents aged 16 and over are eligible to vote in Sunday’s municipal elections, the first major ballot since the Bundestag vote.
• Latest statewide surveys put the CDU near 32 percent, the SPD around 22 percent, and both AfD and Greens at roughly 14 percent, with the Left at about 6 percent and the FDP near 3 percent.
• AfD’s reach is limited by its candidate supply, running for mayors in only about 23 percent of district municipalities and fielding far fewer council candidates than CDU, SPD and Greens.
• Officials expect an unusually high number of runoffs on 28 September, with crowded fields and several outgoing incumbents in cities such as Cologne, Gelsenkirchen and Münster making first‑round majorities less likely.
• Campaign security remained a concern, with the interior ministry logging 1,723 politically motivated offences and officials noting the deaths of 16 candidates.