Parteitag der Berliner Linken: Eralp rechnet mit klarer Zustimmung für Koalitionsgespräche

The Berlin Left Party's leadership, Elif Eralp, is confident that the party will unanimously support her in entering coalition talks with the Greens and SPD. Speaking to RBB-Inforadio early on the day of the party congress, Eralp stated, "I believe that the party will stand behind me with a very, very large majority." Her goal is to become the Mayor of Berlin.

Despite criticism and announced protests by left-wing opponents of government participation before the conference at Berlin-Lichtenberg, she expects that "we will decide together, enter into these coalition talks, because the Berliners and Berliners have decided this and we also expect this from them, because it connects with the very concrete hope that their lives will improve."

Police protection for Eralp during the party congress was arranged on Thursday following a "Spiegel" report raising concerns about her family's safety if she explicitly speaks out against a known Palestinian activist. With this in mind, combined with the announced protests at the party congress, Eralp received police protection on Saturday as per security circles.

Eralp commented, "It's a very tainted debate about my person, coming from many different spectrums, and with a lot of hate, insults, threats, and attacks. That's why there's now this recommendation to take this protection, and I did." When asked about the nature of the threat, she declined to share confidential discussions and information from authorities, stating, "But I rely on the assessment there being correct, and it's about public appearances where external people could also have access."

The debate over antisemitism within the Left Party has complicated the process of forming the government, following the election to the Berlin House of Representatives six weeks ago, where the Greens and SPD had already agreed to the inclusion of coalition negotiations.