The Berliners can vote several times on Sunday.

In addition to the Bundestag, they elect the House of Representatives, as the state parliament is called, and the district council assemblies.

In addition, citizens in the capital can vote on the referendum on “expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co.”.

It should provide the basis for real estate groups to be socialized if they own more than 3,000 apartments.

Markus Wehner

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Although the political situation in the capital, which has been ruled by a red-red-green senate for five years, is different than in the federal government, there are a number of parallels in the Berlin election. The incumbent, the governing mayor Michael Müller of the SPD, is no longer running - he wants to continue his career in the Bundestag. The favorite for his successor is the SPD candidate Franziska Giffey. The former mayor of the Berlin district of Neukölln was Federal Minister for Family Affairs until her resignation in May, she gave up the office because of plagiarism in her doctoral thesis before her doctorate was revoked. As in the federal government with Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz, many Berliners are wonderingwhether Giffey can enforce her ideas in her party after the election - large parts of the Berlin SPD are politically to the left of their top candidate.

The Greens have fallen behind, the CDU is weakening

The Berlin Greens, long leaders in the polls, have fallen behind the SPD.

Her candidate Bettina Jarasch - like her counterpart at the federal level, Annalena Baerbock - has no experience in administration.

The CDU and its top candidate, the previous member of the Bundestag Kai Wegner from Spandau, were at the top of the polls months ago together with the Greens, but have been weakening for weeks.

In addition to the national trend, the fact that Giffey positions himself more conservatively than her party is apparently bothering her.

The FDP hopes to co-rule in Berlin again after more than 30 years.

Unlike in the federal government, the left is relatively strong in Berlin and has ruled with the SPD before.

However, that could change now.

The overriding theme of the Berlin election campaign is housing and rent. Rents have exploded in recent years, and finding affordable accommodation is becoming increasingly difficult for many. While Die Linke supports the referendum for the expropriation of real estate companies, SPD candidate Giffey has clearly opposed it. Every housing company that owns a certain number of apartments to expropriate a flat rate is "neither targeted nor fair," she said on Tuesday in an election broadcast of the RBB. In addition, the “signal is set that Berlin is being expropriated” - that is bad for the city.

Giffey seeks proximity to the economy during the election campaign.

The estimated 30 billion euros that Berlin would have to pay companies as compensation should instead go into new residential construction.

Giffey wants to advance the new building through an alliance with the housing industry.

Left-wing candidate Klaus Lederer, who is also Senator for Culture, is campaigning for expropriation.

With it, Berlin could withdraw 240,000 apartments "from the market", the 30 billion could easily be taken out as a loan, said Lederer in the RBB.