Left-wing leader places high hopes in Berlin state election

After a heavy defeat for Die Linke in Saxony-Anhalt, parliamentary group leader Heidi Reichinnek is looking to Berlin for a political turnaround. Speaking at a campaign event in Berlin-Lichtenberg, she said the September 20 state election could bring a dramatic result for her party.

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Even though things look completely different here in Berlin, it is a truly dramatic development that, for the first time since 1945, a far-right party has become the strongest force in a German state.

Reichinnek pointed to the AfD’s performance in Saxony-Anhalt, where it won 43.8% and became the strongest party in a German state for the first time since 1945. The CDU fell to 17.2%, while Die Linke won 8.6%. Reichinnek called the result “a caesura,” but said giving up was not an option.

Berlin, she argued, offered a very different possibility. If Die Linke became the strongest party in the capital, it would send an encouraging signal beyond Berlin and help the party emerge from its current low point. “We could have a left-wing mayor for the first time,” she said, referring to Die Linke’s lead candidate, Elif Eralp.

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We could have a left-wing mayor for the first time.

Reichinnek described that prospect as her “very, very big wish.” Recent polling placed Die Linke, the CDU and the AfD near the front of the Berlin race. Eralp is seeking a coalition with the Greens and the Social Democrats, which currently has a mathematically viable majority in the polls.

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What a signal of change that would be. That is exactly what we all need now to get out of this low point.