Crises among the Berlin left after election victory: allegations of anti-Semitism and ability to govern

Anti-Semitism debate, photos with a suspected terrorist sympathizer at an election party and contacts in the clan milieu: On the Left in Berlin, the unbridled joy over their clear election victory quickly gave way to great disillusionment. Instead of approaching the formation of a government with a lot of enthusiasm and broad chest, crisis communication is required.

Since the election on Sunday, top candidate Elif Eralp, but also the federal leadership, have had to repeatedly explain why the party has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with hatred of Jews and organized crime. From many corners of Germany there are some sharp warnings about a socialist in the Red Town Hall, whose name, by the way, comes from the color of the clinker brick facade.

Nevertheless, the Left leadership now wants to press ahead with its plan to forge a red-green-red coalition. A party conference will meet on Friday to decide on an exploratory offer to the Greens and SPD. Even if there are opponents of government participation in the party, the state chairmen Kerstin Wolter and Maximilian Schirmer are assuming a clear vote: "We are sure that the delegates will agree to this proposal and that the party conference will send our mayoral candidate Elif Eralp and the exploratory team into the exploratory talks with tailwind."

An election party organized by the Neukölln Left district association caused a lot of commotion, at which, in addition to a clan leader, a pro-Palestinian activist who has been criticized for anti-Israel positions was present. He is said to be close to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is classified as a terrorist organization. The left-wing Bundestag member Ferat Koçak came under pressure because he chatted with the son of the family associated with the clan milieu. Against this background, the Greens and the SPD only want to explore if the Left "clarifies" its position on anti-Semitism, as it was said, before the talks begin.

But this is just one of several major obstacles for the left on the rocky road to forming a government. Another issue is the issue of expropriations. In a referendum in 2021, a majority of Berliners voted to expropriate large housing companies - or more precisely, to socialize them in return for compensation.

The Left promises implementation and based practically its entire election campaign on the problem of high rents in Berlin. The Greens would probably take part in the billion-dollar expropriation experiment - but SPD leading candidate Steffen Krach spoke out strictly against it.

Other radical demands from the left-wing election program could also be a stumbling block, such as waiving school grades up to and including the 9th grade. The party believes that the “increasingly stressful pressure to perform” for students can be reduced in this way.

She also calls for the state’s constitutional protection system to be abolished. “It harms the democratic constitutional state more than it protects it,” the program says. When it comes to the police, the Left wants to stop “expensive rearmament” and reduce staff, and if possible replace police work with social work.

Speaking of money: Due to Berlin's dire budget situation, the question arises as to whether the left's expensive social promises are even affordable. Cheaper public transport tickets for people with little money, a rent cap for 400,000 municipal apartments, “neighborhood canteens” with meals for three euros, more money for culture, free lunch for significantly more students than before: all of this costs.

To finance it, the Left is proposing a “luxury villa tax” that would be due on the purchase of homes worth four million euros or more. According to the election program, higher income could also be brought by an increase in the property transfer tax and a gradual increase in trade tax. Householders from other parties doubt that the additional income will be enough to pay for all social benefits. Especially since a record gap of four billion euros or more will probably have to be closed in the next state budget.

Apart from the election program and finances, there is still an open question in Berlin: Can the Left even govern? From 2002 to 2011 and from 2016 to 2023, the PDS and the Left were represented in various constellations in the Berlin Senate - most recently in a red-green-red coalition under the leadership of the SPD. Since reunification, no representative of the Left has ever held office in the Red Town Hall.

And the party has changed a lot recently. Within two and a half years it tripled its membership in Berlin to 19,000, and many young and more radical people joined. On the other hand, many former officials and elected officials left politics. Lawyer Eralp, who wants to become mayor, has only been a member of the House of Representatives for five years and has no administrative experience.

In addition, only 9 out of 47 members of the strongly grown Left faction were already in the state parliament. Many newcomers are unknown; others, for example, represent positions critical of Israel or reject participation in the government. It is unclear whether Eralp and co-parliamentary group leader Tobias Schulze or leading new MPs such as party leaders Wolter and Schirmer can hold the place together in a coalition.