Germany’s Left Party has won the Berlin state election, defeating Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and pledging to tackle the city’s housing crisis by nationalising major private housing associations.
The Left Party secured 25.3% of the vote, ahead of the CDU with 19%, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 16%, and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) with 12.1%.
The result could pave the way for Elif Eralp to become Berlin’s first mayor from the Left Party, which developed from the former East German communist party.
Speaking to supporters after the polls closed, Eralp said Berlin needed a major change, highlighting rising rents and the city’s worsening housing situation as its biggest social problem.
She pledged to implement a 2021 referendum proposal to nationalise large private housing associations, potentially transferring around 220,000 housing units into public ownership.
However, the proposal faces significant financial and political obstacles. SPD General Secretary Tim Kluessendorf estimated that nationalisation could cost around €20 billion, while an Infratest Dimap poll found that only 37% of respondents supported the policy.
The election also saw the AfD record its strongest-ever result in Berlin, while the party separately emerged as the largest party in neighbouring Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on the same day.
The Left Party could seek to form a coalition with the SPD and Greens. However, Green Party leader Felix Banaszak said allegations of antisemitism involving parts of the Left Party would have to be addressed before his party could join a coalition.
The Left Party rejects accusations of systematic antisemitism and says it opposes antisemitism, racism, sexism and other forms of hostility toward groups.
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