When Wowereit announced in August that he was stepping down, Saleh — now the party's regional caucus leader — became a natural candidate to succeed him. The mayor will be elected by the Berlin state parliament in December. Since a Social Democrat-led coalition has a majority in the legislature, the party ballot's winner is all but guaranteed to get the job. Saleh's chances are hard to gauge in a battle with local party chairman Jan Stoess and city development minister Michael Mueller, the best-known of three candidates who are hardly household names. Ethnic minorities are poorly represented in leadership positions in Germany, though a co-leader of the opposition Greens and the federal government official responsible for immigrant issues have Turkish roots.