Berlin, Germany – The morning after Berlin’s historic vote was chilly and overcast, but for Sumeja Skeva, an 18-year-old student in the bustling Neukolln district, the city’s prospects could not be brighter. On Sunday, Berliners delivered an unprecedented victory to The Left (Die Linke in German) party, a camp long seen as radical for its anti-capitalist and pro-migrant stance. Elif Eralp, the party’s Berlin leader, is of Turkish descent and is likely to become the city’s first mayor with an immigrant background. She would also be Berlin’s first mayor from the Left.
The party’s win has brought relief to pro-migrant residents at a time when the far-right AfD party continues to gain support in eastern states, as well as to young people below 30, who, lured by the promise of affordability, represented the bulk of the Left’s voter base at the polls. “It was my first time voting,” Skeva said. The neighbourhood, where the smell of sizzling kebabs wafts from stalls onto busy streets, is home to a large immigrant population. “I want them to tax the rich and to provide more opportunities for everyone,” she added. Eralp, who has been likened to New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, campaigned to end high rent prices and chronic housing shortages in the ever-expanding city. The Left party’s plans include issuing rent caps – a phrase Eralp wears on a gold necklace – and expropriating homes from big corporate landlords.
She has also promised to clean up dirty neighbourhoods, prioritise social spending on vulnerable groups such as the homeless, and fight for non-citizens’ rights to vote in local elections. “I am going to be happy to see all the new changes they promised,” said security worker Michael Akan, 26, a Left voter from Wedding, a diverse working-class district. “High rent prices are a problem for me, and gas prices too.” States cannot regulate gas or other commodity prices, but Akan, like many of the Left’s supporters, believes Eralp’s anti-poor policies will somehow cascade and ease their living situation. Her party won 25.7 percent of the state’s vote – the highest – and a poll by broadcaster ZDF showed Eralp’s own ratings at 36 percent, the highest among candidates for the mayor’s post. Nearly half of Berlin’s 3.6 million residents have an immigration background, the largest group being from the Turkish community, which helped rebuild the then-West Germany after World War II. The city is also home to a sizable Arab community, including the largest Palestinian diaspora in Europe.
As leftists celebrated in Berlin, the far-right AfD party, which opposes migration, also cheered its strong gains in the election. The party clinched 16 percent of the vote in Berlin to come in third place. On the same day, it also won state elections in northeastern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state, making it the AfD’s second state election victory in two weeks. Against that backdrop, there was “no question” about whom she would vote for, said Ana Pareja, who runs the Bartleby and Co bookstore, a cosy space on the edge of Neukolln.
In her bookshop, surrounded by Spanish literature, Pareja organised voting workshops for eligible European nationals and, before the Sunday polls, encouraged those in her network to choose Eralp. “We are going to have a woman who has an immigrant background and who is like us,” Pareja said.“We don’t know what will change immediately, but every proposal Elif Eralp has is important, from rent to rubbish to the untouchable subject,” she added, referring to solidarity with Palestine. Indeed, showing support for Palestine is somewhat of a taboo because of Germany’s strict pro-Israel stance. Demonstrators have been cracked down on, and cultural centres shuttered. This year, Germany stripped three pro-Palestinian bookshops of a prestigious national award for “left-wing extremism”.
While Eralp has been criticised for failing to articulate a stronger stance against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, or for failing to propose clearer policies against anti-Semitism, the politician has reiterated that she stands in support of Palestinian, Jewish and other vulnerable communities. Her supporters hope that the state, at least, will halt the attacks on pro-Palestinian voices. Despite Sunday’s victory, Eralp’s work is far from done. Her party does not have a parliamentary majority, so it will have to form a coalition with other like-minded groups.
An alliance is likely with the former governing coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD) and the conservatives (CDU). However, both parties have already baulked at Eralp’s policies, particularly the prospect of housing expropriation – meaning the Left has to convince them, or, as some of its supporters fear, make heavy compromises. Negotiations could take weeks, even months. For now, though, some Berliners are simply revelling in the feeling of having fought back against the fears of a Germany-wide takeover by the far right. “The first change is that this is symbolic,” Pareja, the bookstore owner, said. “That’s important for people to regain hope and trust that was lost.”
