Our election Sunday will be pretty ho-hum compared to how historic the Sunday election in Mecklenburg Western Pommerania could be. That election on the Baltic Sea coast could break Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) if his party performs poorly.
Meanwhile, the only immediate effect our election will have on our lives will be bike paths.
And then it’ll need an estimated 10 years to sludge its way through German courts.
The only thing a left-leaning coalition could do immediately is reverse the current coalition’s car-first policies and return to bike-pathifying Berlin. Which I couldn’t be more in favor of.
Leftists Die Linke and the conservative CDU are neck and neck in the polls which means either one could lead Berlin following the election depending on coalition discussions.
We’ll either get the status quo after Sunday’s election (a CDU-led coalition) or a return to a coalition of the center-left SPD, the environmental Die Grüne and leftists Die Linke that ruled prior to the 2023 election with one important caveat — Die Linke, not the SPD, would propose the mayor.
Either way it’s a historic election because it’ll be the first time I vote in Germany (🤯).
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Have a good election weekend!
Andrew
PA: Want some relief from election news? Come out to 100% Funny, the 20% Berlin comedy night at Downstairs Comedy Club Sunday. Fitz Gessler, Pavlo Voyt, Carmen Chraim, Massoud Akbarzadeh, Michael Jäger and me! Tickets.
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The election news isn’t all boring — it can also be weird. Chancellor Merz claimed Thursday in his only Berlin election appearance that he likes riding our S-Bahns, which only proves that he never takes the S-Bahn. “And then I get out of the S-Bahn at Pariser Platz and walk through the Brandenburg Gate,” he said, noting that he sometimes stops at a plaque honoring former US President Ronald Reagan. His Berlin apartment is at Potsdamer Platz so even if he really did take the S-Bahn, it would be just one stop.
Voiceless internationals
And while we’ll all be affected by the election, not everyone can vote — even though most would like to. Our friends over at Wahlheymat found that 90.8% of the expats and immigrants that are not allowed to vote Sunday would like to, according to its unofficial StimmlosTrend 2026 poll. And 72.4% of those who responded said they were somewhat or very concerned about Berlin’s future. About half say housing and rents are their biggest concern and only 15.8% are satisfied with Berlin’s current government. Maybe we need a referendum to allow long-time Berliners with non-EU passports to vote? Comprehensive poll results here.
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Not all the news is election-related. Brandenburg prosecutors have charged a 22-year-old Estonian with attempted manslaughter after he attacked at BER employee in a drunken rage, according to RBB24. The suspect and his traveling companion were angered when they arrived too late to their gate and were not allowed to board a plane to return to Estonia. The man attacked the worker, punching the victim repeatedly, even after he fell to the ground. This being the social media age, it was all recorded. The suspect remains in custody in Brandenburg and the 48-year-old victim remains in intensive care.
Alex’s library
Some of the news sounds like election news but isn’t: Finance senator and mayoral candidate Stefan Evers (CDU) signed a letter-of-intent for the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek (ZLB) to move from Kreuzberg to Alexanderplatz in the Kaufhof building, according to the Morgenpost. Financing and a final lease will have to be finalized by the next government. Politicians tried unsuccessfully to relocate the library to the old Galeries Lafayette building on Friedrichstrasse.
What’s an election without a little election crime? The right-wing AfD party is the most common victim in Berlin, according to RBB24. Police recorded 39 attacks on campaigners during the run-up to the Berlin election, including assaults on 18 members of the right-wing AfD party followed by 8 attacks on members of Die Grüne. And of the 1,252 recorded cases of vandalism to election posters, 801 AfD posters were damaged while second place went to CDU posters with 148. 16 cases of vandalism against campaign offices were also recorded, including 9 attacks on AfD offices. Reminder: Right-wing hoods commit the most politically motivated crimes.
