Young voters question Berlin party representatives on rbb before the House of Representatives election

Shortly before the election in Berlin, the parties answered questions from young voters on rbb. The background to this is that for the first time, 16 and 17 year olds are also allowed to cast their votes in the House of Representatives election. In all subject areas – rent prices, mobility and education – the audience was particularly interested in how the parties wanted to finance their projects.

The Berlin parties were represented by Lucas Schaal (36, CDU), Tamara Lüdke (35, SPD), Klara Schedlich (26, Alliance 90/The Greens), Niklas Schenker (33, The Left), Alexander Bertram (37, AfD) and Alina Lindemann (32, BSW). They each had 30 seconds to answer the questions asked of them.

Differences became clear, for example, in the expansion of local public transport, which was supported by all candidates. CDU candidate Schaal referred to the high number of fare evaders in Berlin, which his party wants to reduce to "virtually zero" through a closed system with access barriers to the trains, which in turn would bring in more income. AfD candidate Bertram also supported such access barriers in order to increase security and cleanliness.

Left-wing candidate Schenker spoke out in favor of taxing millionaires more heavily and thus having more money for public transport, while SPD candidate Lüdke spoke out in favor of a “moderate adjustment of the property transfer tax”. BSW candidate Lindemann pointed out that Germany managed to "spend billions on our war ministry" in a very short time, but that the money for this was lacking in many other places.

There is a lot of unity between the AfD and the CDU

At the end of the topic packages, the moderators asked yes/no questions on which the candidates had to position themselves. What was striking was that there was a lot of unity between the SPD, Greens, Left and BSW on the one hand and the AfD and CDU on the other.

For example, the CDU and AfD candidates jointly spoke out in favor of a gender ban in schools, more surveillance in the city and a greater presence of the Bundeswehr at information events in schools. The other parties' candidates rejected this. The SPD, Greens, Left and BSW, on the other hand, answered yes to the questions about the expropriation of large housing groups and women's departments at the BVG. The AfD and CDU rejected these points.

The only question on which the camps broke up related to the issue of rent. BSW and AfD spoke out against restricting the rental of furnished apartments, while the CDU, SPD, Greens and Left were in favor.

The election will take place in just under two weeks

The House of Representatives election in Berlin will take place on September 20th, as will the state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. On September 16th, the rbb will broadcast another election arena, then with the top candidates of the parties who, according to surveys, have a realistic chance of entering the House of Representatives.

The rbb initially did not invite the BSW candidate Lindemann, but changed this decision and justified it with the party's improved poll numbers. The BSW had filed a lawsuit against the original non-invitation. The lawsuit had not yet been decided when the station invited the party to its election broadcasts.