Berlin's far-left winner Eralp faces antisemitism crisis before coalition talks even begin
From the Newshound archive · first published 21 September 2026 · last updated 22 September 2026.
Elif Eralp, whose Die Linke party won 25.7 per cent of the vote — more than double its 2023 share — must now form a coalition with the Greens and SPD to become Berlin's governing mayor.Supporters at a Die Linke election night event in Berlin, as the party's victory came on a platform pledging to nationalise housing and expropriate flats held by large corporate landlords.
Elif Eralp's Die Linke party triumphed in Berlin's state election with 25.7% of the vote, but the 45-year-old lawyer faces an immediate threat to her coalition ambitions after militant-linked figures appeared at her victory party in Neuköln. The SPD's national co-leader Baerbel Bas warned it would be "very difficult" to work with a party "large parts of which act in an antisemitic way" — a body blow to Eralp's plan for a red-red-green coalition with the SPD and Greens.
An alleged supporter of armed Palestinian militants and the head of a family "linked to organised crime" were both photographed at Die Linke's victory celebration.
Eralp pledged to expropriate over 200,000 apartments from corporate landlords — a plan the SPD estimates would cost €20 billion and which Chancellor Merz vowed to block by legislation.
