Die Linke Votes on Entering Berlin Coalition Talks

Six weeks after Berlin's state election, Die Linke convened a party congress in Lichtenberg on Saturday morning, starting at 10:00, to decide whether to enter formal coalition negotiations with the Greens and SPD. Both other parties had already approved the step the previous week. A clear majority in favour was expected, and if the vote passed, three-party talks were set to begin as early as Monday.

The Left had emerged as Berlin's strongest force in the 20 September election with 25.7% of the vote, ahead of the CDU (18.8%), AfD (16.3%), Greens (14.3%) and SPD (12.1%). A successful coalition would make faction leader Elif Eralp the first Regierende Bürgermeisterin from her party.

Not everyone in the party backed the plan. The youth wing Linksjugend Solid opposed a red-green-red alliance, calling instead for a strong socialist opposition in parliament and on the streets. A protest outside the congress venue was also announced on social media, directed against what organisers called electoral betrayal and in support of Palestinian solidarity and socialisation.

Eralp received police protection for the event, following a Spiegel report that she feared for her family's safety if she commented publicly on a well-known Palestinian activist — a concern found in internal notes accidentally sent to the magazine alongside a draft interview.

The coalition platform's most contentious proposal is the expropriation of around 160,000 apartments from five large housing companies — an unprecedented step in Germany — aimed at slowing rising rents. Business groups and the federal government have both moved to oppose it.