Left Party wins Berlin election for the first time, SPD falls to historic low
Die Linke, led by Elif Eralp, finished first in the Berlin House of Representatives election on 20 September 2026, well ahead of the CDU, with the AfD third. The BSW failed to get into parliament.
Berlin voted for a new House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus) and new district assemblies on Sunday, 20 September 2026, and the result changes the city's politics. According to the preliminary result, Die Linke became the strongest party in the state parliament for the first time, clearly ahead of the CDU. Its lead candidate Elif Eralp is now in a position to make history as Governing Mayor. By the early hours, with almost all precincts counted, the Left had about 25.7 percent (up roughly 13.5 points) and around 38 of the 130 seats. The CDU, which ran with Stefan Evers after Governing Mayor Kai Wegner decided not to stand again, fell to about 18.8 percent. The AfD came third with about 16.3 percent, the Greens got about 14.3 percent, and the SPD under lead candidate Steffen Krach dropped to about 12.1 percent, a historic low. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) got about 4.7 percent and missed the 5 percent threshold. Both parties of the outgoing CDU-SPD senate lost heavily, as did the Greens, while the Left and the AfD grew sharply. Coalition arithmetic now points to talks between the Left, the Greens and the SPD, though a CDU-led alliance with the Greens and SPD would also be possible on paper. The election took place on the same day as the state election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
