Berlin's Left Party Faces Two Critical Hurdles on the Road to a Red-Green-Red Coalition

Five weeks after Berlin's September 20 state election, in which the Left Party emerged as the winning force, the path to a red-green-red coalition faces two simultaneous crises. First, newly elected Left lawmaker Vanessa Emde is at risk of expulsion from the parliamentary group after she declared on October 15 that "no state has a right to exist, only people do" and refused to retract the remark, despite having signed a party pledge against antisemitism on October 13. Internal anger over her treatment by the party leadership may dampen delegate enthusiasm at a critical moment. Second, the Left's party congress has been set for October 31, where members must vote on whether to begin formal coalition negotiations with the Greens and SPD — both of whom already approved talks on October 19. Left politician Hendrikje Klein, 46, has been nominated as parliament president when the new Abgeordnetenhaus convenes on October 29. If the coalition succeeds, Left frontrunner Elif Eralp would become Berlin's first governing mayor from her party. The sondierung paper, presented on October 17, includes a flagship Left demand: the expropriation of roughly 160,000 apartments from large housing corporations, transferring them into public ownership.