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Maximilian Schirmer, regional leader of the Left in Berlin

Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa

Berlin's left-wing leader Maximilian Schirmer sees his party's election results as a tailwind in the partial repeat of the federal election in the capital. In the new vote in around a fifth of Berlin's electoral districts, the Left gained slightly and now has 11.5 percent across Berlin. The Left recently had poor poll numbers nationwide and had to cope with the splitting off of the wing around Bundestag member Sahra Wagenknecht.

Schirmer told the dpa news agency that his party is now going into the European elections and the 2025 federal elections stronger. He expressed concern about the AfD's gains. "We can clearly observe that the government parties lost and the opposition parties won," said the state chairman.

Many people are afraid of high additional operating costs and that they will no longer be able to pay their rent. »And it is precisely this fear that the right-wing exploits. But there is also a social alternative and a social opposition on the left, and people have recognized that.”

Berlin's left must hand over a mandate to Hesse's left

However, due to lower voter turnout, the Left lost a Berlin mandate to the Hesse regional association. This was bitter for the affected Berlin MP Pascal Meiser, who had done good work, said Schirmer. Other parties also had to give up mandates, and the FDP even lost one.

The competition from the new Sahra Wagenknecht alliance – which was not on the ballot in the repeat election – does not worry him, said Schirmer. The Left has registered more than 1,000 new members in the capital alone in the past few weeks. She gained in both Neukölln and Lichtenberg. The disputes of the past few months are behind the party. "And we're not worried about the future for now, we're taking the good tailwind with us," said Schirmer.

The federal result does not change, but trends can be seen

According to the result in the capital, the SPD remains the strongest party there with 22.2 percent (-1.2 percentage points), closely followed by the Greens with 22.0 percent (-0.3). The CDU improved to 17.2 percent (+1.3). The AfD climbed to 9.4 percent (+1.0) and pushed past the FDP, which fell to 8.1 percent (-0.9). With 11.5 percent, the Left practically maintained its result from the 2021 election (+0.1).

The overall nationwide percentage result for 2021 only changed minimally: the FDP (11.4 percent) and the Greens (14.7 percent) each lost 0.1 percentage points. The CDU (19.0 percent) and AfD (10.4 percent) each received 0.1 percentage points more. For the SPD (25.7 percent) and the Left (4.9 percent), the federal result from 2021 did not change in the election on Sunday.

The re-election was caused by many organizational problems and mishaps during the 2021 vote in Berlin. According to a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, new elections had to be held in 455 of the 2,256 electoral districts. Almost 550,000 Berliners were called upon to take part.

mgo/dpa