BERLIN (AFP) ― German Chancellor Angela Merkel were to come face-to-face in a television clash Sunday with her center-left election rival, confronting Peer Steinbrueck whom she has studiously ignored on the campaign trail.

In what has been billed as the primetime TV event of the year, Steinbrueck was to have a last-ditch chance to close a yawning poll gap against the popular Merkel.

With three weeks to go to election day, the brash, straight-talking but gaffe-prone Social Democrat, who once served as Merkel’s finance minister in a ‘grand coalition’ cabinet, faces an uphill struggle to unseat the unflappable leader of Europe’s biggest economy.

A poll Friday gave Merkel’s conservatives 41 percent of the vote ― a lead over the combined totals of 26 percent for the Social Democrats and 11 percent for the SPD’s preferred allies the Greens.

Merkel’s current coalition partner, the Free Democrats, scored five percent, according to the Deutschlandtrend survey for ARD public television.

With few truly divisive campaign issues to polarise the electorate ― both big parties largely cooperated on the eurozone crisis ― the campaign has been the most personality-based of recent times.

“We all know that Angela Merkel is a rather quiet personality who does not like to quarrel on the open stage,” said RTL television’s Peter Kloeppel, one of four moderators for the 90-minute debate starting at 1830 GMT on Sunday.

“Peer Steinbrueck is somewhat more aggressive, and that’s what should make this duel more attractive. It will be interesting to watch how they use their temperaments. They can use it for their purposes, or it could count against them.”

Another commentator will be comedian and entertainer Stefan Raab, 46, who has even represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest and whose inclusion on the panel may draw in younger voters.

Steinbrueck, asked whether he will rein in his famous temper, pledged to stay civil and “not play the hooligan,” in comments to the Stuttgarter Zeitung.