The far-left Die Linke party swept Berlin's election on Sunday with 25.7% of the vote, comfortably ahead of the conservative CDU (Christian Democratic Union)'s 18.8%, which has governed the city since 2023. If she succeeds in forming a coalition, Elif Eralp, the daughter of Turkish immigrants, will become the first mayor from her party in the history of the German capital.
At the same time, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won the election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, with 38.2% of the vote, just two weeks after its historic victory in Saxony-Anhalt.
The CDU received only 4.9% there and was left out of the local parliament. It is the first time in German history that the party has gone unrepresented in a state legislature, and the pressure on Chancellor Friedrich Merz has never been greater.
All of this reflects the triumph of the political extremes in German politics and the collapse of its traditional party structure.
Die Linke more than doubled its strength in Berlin after finishing fourth with just 12.2% in 2023. The CDU lost nearly 10 points, the AfD rose to 16.3%, the Greens fell to 14.3%, and the Social Democrats collapsed to 12.1%, their worst result in the city's history. Eralp could form a coalition with the Greens and the Social Democrats that would hold 97 of the 162 seats, but Stefan Evers of the CDU could also form a government with the same two parties, reaching 84 seats, two above the required majority.
Eralp celebrated the victory before supporters in a hall in the Kreuzberg district. "Let's turn this success into a new path for Berlin together," she said, as cheers repeatedly interrupted her, "let's go out and change Berlin."
Evers, who had sharply attacked Die Linke throughout the campaign, congratulated her from his own party's stage. "We're apparently not the largest force, and so I congratulate the largest force here. That's the right thing to do. It goes without saying among democrats." Asked about a possible coalition, he refused to commit and said only that everyone was "talking to each other."
Israel at the center of the debate
Two issues could complicate the formation of a left-wing governing coalition led by Die Linke: housing policy and the party's stance toward Israel and antisemitism. On housing, the party has promised to cut rents in the city and nationalize apartments owned by major real estate companies, in line with a 2021 referendum that was never implemented.
"When Die Linke is in charge, we expropriate," Eralp declared Sunday night. The Greens also support expropriation, but the Social Democrats reject it outright.
At the national level, the party's leadership has labeled Israel's actions in Gaza "genocide," and at a federal conference it abandoned the definition of antisemitism widely accepted in Germany in favor of the Jerusalem Declaration, under which boycotting Israel, comparing it to apartheid and calling for the end of its existence as a Jewish state are not inherently antisemitic.
The party's youth wing has condemned Israel over its "colonial and racist character," and last November, German newspaper Tagesspiegel reported that members who did not take a sufficiently extreme stance against Israel faced threats and "psychological terror" at the organization's conference, while activists in internal chat groups were called on to carry out "purges" against "traitors or Zionists."
The party's branch in Berlin's Neukölln district, home to a large immigrant population, has drawn sharp criticism. In late August, a rapper performed a song at one of its campaign events with the lines "Yalla yalla intifada" and "Death to the IDF," and in early September, a youth movement representative handed out stickers to high school students in the neighborhood depicting a "Hello Kitty" character holding a rifle against a Palestinian flag backdrop.
At the party's victory celebration in the neighborhood, Issa Remmo, considered the head of the Remmo crime family, was seen alongside Ibrahim Ibrahim, an anti-Israel activist regarded as a prominent supporter of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization in Germany, according to local media reports.
"Openly supported death"
Berlin, which has been led in recent years by the pro-Israel Governing Mayor Kai Wegner and has flown the Israeli flag over its city hall for as long as hostages remained held by Hamas, now appears set to pass to Die Linke. Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said Sunday night, "The fact that a party whose campaign rallies openly called for people's deaths has emerged victorious in this election concerns me greatly."
He called on the Social Democrats and the Greens not to let Die Linke form a government. "Carelessly crossing red lines that were drawn before the election now would be a grave mistake, one that would give a further push toward the normalization of hatred of Jews," he said.
Eralp herself rejected the accusations and presented a five-point plan to combat antisemitism. "As far as I'm concerned, Israel's right to exist and the Jewish people's right to self-determination are non-negotiable," she told Der Spiegel (a German news magazine), adding that "the Palestinians' right to self-determination, to a state of their own and to living in peace and security" was likewise self-evident.
At a panel held by Berlin's Jewish community, she said "an overwhelming majority within the party supports protecting Jewish life," but acknowledged that "antisemitism exists within left-wing circles."
Chancellor Friedrich Merz addressed the results on Monday, telling a press conference that what concerned him most was "that we are experiencing open, radical antisemitism in Berlin." He added, "The fact that Jewish life in Germany is no longer safe is the most severe consequence of recent years," and stressed that the CDU insists that Jewish life in Germany, including in Berlin, remain safe.
He also said his government is advancing federal legislation to thwart Die Linke's expropriation plans. "We are working on a law that sends a clear message to the whole world, that in Germany no one is stripped of their property."
Eralp, 45, a lawyer who has worked on immigrant rights, was born in Munich to parents who fled Turkey in 1980 after a military coup, due to their trade union activities. Many compare her to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and she has embraced the comparison warmly.
