Ines Schwerdtner urges the Christian Democratic Union to halt the chancellor’s planned reforms.

The German party The Left (Die Linke), which emerged victorious in Berlin’s elections on Sunday, called for the resignation of Chancellor Friedrich Merz and an end to his austerity policies.

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The request came on Monday after the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered defeats in the capital and in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where it even failed to win enough votes to enter the state parliament.

Die Linke co-chair Ines Schwerdtner said that when Merz appeared on Sunday, “we all expected him to resign” and that, instead, she was surprised that, even before the final election results were known, the chancellor reaffirmed his intention to continue with the reforms.

“The signal is clear: The reforms must be stopped. The signal from the elections has been clear,” Schwerdtner said at a news conference alongside Elif Eralp and Simone Oldenburg, the candidates with whom her party had contested the elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Die Linke’s co-chair urged the CDU and also its junior coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), to understand this need.

“We do not expect Merz to come to his senses, unfortunately, and I also do not want (Markus) Söder or someone else to take over the Chancellery,” she said, referring to the leader of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), one of the figures being considered as a possible replacement for Chancellor Merz should he resign due to the current political crisis.

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Die Linke seems to have mobilised massively among Berlin’s young and multiethnic population pic.twitter.com/9BxdiNlcfT

— Nassreddin 🍉 نصر الدين (@Nassreddin2002) September 20, 2026

Regarding the SPD, with which Die Linke hopes to form an alliance in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, she urged the party to consider “whether it can continue as part of this coalition” and not “chain itself to a dying CDU” or to a chancellor who is clinging to office.

Schwerdtner recalled that Die Linke and major trade unions have called demonstrations for next Saturday to demand “political change” in response to the controversial reforms planned in areas such as pensions and health care.

She also referred to her party’s historic victory in Berlin, where it became the leading party with more than 25% of the vote, and cited it as an example that “things can be different” and that “the shift to the right can be stopped.”

Berlin has sent a signal “not only to federal politics, but internationally” that The Left’s strategy is the “best” response to the rise of the far right, which won in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania but finished third in the German capital.

Eralp, the winner of the Berlin election, stressed the importance of going out into the streets to speak with citizens, “even if someone slams the door in your face,” and talking with those who feel dissatisfied and angry to convince them that “AfD is not an alternative.”

At the same time, if the population were in a better economic situation, with fewer fears of downward social mobility, they would be “less open to theories that seek scapegoats,” said the left-wing candidate, who reiterated her ambition to form a government with the SPD and the Greens.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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