The left-wing party Die Linke won Berlin’s local elections with 24.5% of the vote, doubling its 2023 support and surpassing the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Elif Eralp, Die Linke’s candidate, recalled the promise of affordable housing, one of her main electoral offerings, and said, “Starting today, we will change Berlin together.”

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Coming in third with 16%, the far-right AfD obtained its best result in its history in the German capital, coinciding with an increase in turnout. In Mecklemburgo-Pomerania Occidental, AfD gained 20 points to 37%, slightly ahead of the SPD of regional president Manuela Schwesig, which obtained 35.5%. Die Linke reached 7.5%, The Greens 5.5%, the CDU 5.5%, and BSW was again at the limit with 5%.

AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla called the result “sensational” and said the party has a “clear mandate to govern,” expressing willingness to “dialogue with all parties.”

Die Linke finished first in Berlin’s state election today (~25%) with a 13-point surge, led by Elif Eralp, a 45-year-old lawyer of Turkish origin.

If she becomes governing mayor, she’d be Berlin’s first Turkish-origin mayor, Germany’s first female state leader with a migration… pic.twitter.com/pCWjsp6cBv

— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 20, 2026

Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday called the results of his CDU party a “disaster.” According to polls by two public broadcasters, the conservative formation obtained barely over 5% of the votes, the minimum threshold to enter the regional Parliament. Merz’s authority had already been damaged by the CDU’s resounding defeat against AfD in the September 6 elections in the small eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.

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