Everything You Need to Know About Berlin’s Upcoming State Election

Berlin will hold its state election on September 20th, marking its sixth election in five years. Over 2.5 million residents will choose the city's leadership during a period when the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is gaining national traction, and Die Linke's Elif Eralp is attracting international attention as a potential German alternative to Zohran Mamdani's New York mayoral victory.

A tight three-way race is shaping up, with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Die Linke neck and neck at around 20-23 percent, the AfD and Greens following close behind, and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) trailing between 10-15 percent. No two-party coalition can form a government without the AfD, which is widely expected to be excluded from any potential administration.

This early election is not scheduled; Berlin's state parliament, the Abgeordnetenhaus, had a five-year term, but the last election in 2023 had to be rerun due to election malpractices, and the subsequent federal election in 2024 was held a year later. This time, 17 parties are contesting, with a threshold of 5 percent necessary to enter parliament.

Notably, residents aged 16 and 17 can vote, making up roughly 2 percent of the electorate, and this is the first instance of such young voters participating in a Berlin state election. The incumbent Mayor Kai Wegner has withdrawn from the race after admitting to misleading remarks about a major power outage. Finance Senator Stefan Evers has taken over CDU's campaign, while Elif Eralp, 45, is leading Die Linke's charge, with a platform focusing on rent control and making the city affordable.

Evers, 46, is running for the CDU and has promised centrist stability amid the rise of political extremism. The Green party's Werner Graf and SPD's Steffen Krach are also in the race, presenting varied platforms and facing challenges ranging from criticism of antisemitism in Die Linke to corruption allegations in SPD's candidate.