A high-stakes campaign defined by anti-migration rhetoric has stoked fear instead of discussion of pressing structural problems

Flanked by market stalls selling everything from Turkish borëk pastries to bedazzled iPhone cases, Lina, 53, confessed that she was racked with worry about what may lie ahead for her three children once Sunday night’s election is over.

She has lived in Germany for decades, carving out a life for herself and her family after moving from Lebanon. Now – after a frenzied election campaign in which most politicians have scrambled to ward off the rise of the far right with tough talk on migrants – she wondered what the consequences would be for the lives they had painstakingly built.