Elif Eralp's Left Party on course for historic win in German capital
The Left Party won about 25% in exit polls, and Eralp now needs SPD and Green support to form a red-red-green coalition.
- On Sunday, exit polls showed Die Linke winning about 25 percent of the vote in Berlin, positioning lead candidate Elif Eralp as the top contender to become the city's next mayor.
- The daughter of Turkish migrants, Eralp has campaigned on reducing inequality and solving Berlin's housing crisis, including a controversial pledge to expropriate flats held by large corporate landlords.
- Controversy from an August campaign event in Neukoelln persists, where a performer chanted "Death to the IDF!", prompting Eralp to distance herself amid criticism regarding the party's fitness to govern.
- Assembling a "red-red-green coalition" poses significant challenges, as SPD lead candidate Steffen Krach has publicly opposed Eralp's expropriation proposals, complicating coalition negotiations.
- Eralp has campaigned as the best person to counter the far-right AfD's rise, positioning her victory as significant for Germany's mainstream parties facing electoral pressure.
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According to projections, LEFT is by far the strongest party in Berlin, while AfD finished in first place in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The CDU of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was hit particularly hard.
Far left wins Berlin, far right in another state polls; Merz calls result 'disaster'
Exit polls showed Die Linke leading in Berlin and the AfD topping Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, handing the CDU another blow. The outcome adds to pressure on Friedrich Merz, who has vowed to push ahead with reforms.
The left has won the Berlin election surprisingly clearly on Sunday after the first extrapolations. It can count on around 25 percent and now has the first chance to place the mayor with top candidate Elif Eralp (see video above). But who is the 45-year-old, who stood in the second row for a long time?
Germany's far-right AfD celebrates another state election win
"We are the strongest force and have reached the mainstream of the population," said jubilant AfD co-leader Alice Weidel after the first results came in for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state. "We have displaced the CDU as the people's party," she later added, referring to the centre-right party of embattled Chancellor Friedrich Merz that was hovering around a historic low of five percent in the region. The AfD scored more than 37 percent again…
The Christian Democratic CDU is, judging by the first exit polls, the big loser of the state elections in Berlin and...
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- 36% of the sources lean Right
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