In the Berlin House of Representatives election held on September 20, The Left came first with 25.7% of the vote. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU finished second with 18.8%, while Alternative for Germany (AfD) came third with 16.3%.
This was reported by Tagesschau.
In the previous election in 2023, The Left received 12.2%. This time, it more than doubled its result and won the Berlin House of Representatives election for the first time.
The Left’s lead candidate, Elif Eralp, said she plans to hold talks with the Greens and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) after the election. Housing policy was one of her main campaign issues.
The CDU came second with 18.8%. In 2023, the party received 28.2%. During the election campaign, the CDU changed its lead candidate: in July, Stefan Evers replaced Berlin’s incumbent Governing Mayor Kai Wegner.
The Social Democratic Party of Germany received 12.1% of the vote, compared with 18.4% in 2023. This is the party’s worst-ever result in a Berlin election.
AfD received 16.3% and came third. In the 2023 election, the party won 9.1%.
The Greens received 14.3%, finishing fourth. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, with 4.7%, and the Free Democratic Party, with 2.5%, failed to clear the 5% threshold.
According to the preliminary seat distribution, The Left will receive 47 seats, the CDU 34, AfD 29, the Greens 26, and the SPD 22.
The current CDU-SPD coalition no longer has a majority. Possible majority options include a coalition of The Left, the Greens and the SPD, or a coalition of the CDU, the Greens and the SPD.
