[[link removed]]

FROM NEW YORK CITY TO BERLIN: CAMPAIGNING ON THE ISSUE OF
AFFORDABILITY – THE RISE OF LEFT POLITICIANS  
[[link removed]]


 

Leo Scharenberg
October 5, 2026
Common World
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ The people of New York decided earlier this year that the person
they most trusted to decrease the cost of living is Zohran Mamdani.
Just a few months later, the craze for a leftist mayor crossed the
Atlantic and reached the German capital Berlin. _

Image credit: Common World,

 

As wars and trade conflicts have caused prices to skyrocket, the issue
of affordability has  increasingly affected people across the world.
In rural areas, feelings of anger have been largely directed at rising
gas and grocery prices, as the reliance on cars makes citizens pay
extra attention to the price of fuel. In cities like Berlin or New
York, grocery prices are just as  relevant, but rising costs are most
noticeable through rent prices. 

Unlike gas prices, where global politics play a major role, the causes
of rising rents in large cities can be attributed to various factors.
A globally driven cause is private, profit-seeking investment groups
who own large amounts of apartment buildings and are, therefore, both
willing and capable of systematically driving up rents. A local,
rather political reason is the  lack of rent-controlled apartment
buildings, especially in city centers. Another reason is
gentrification, which is caused by well-off people moving into
inner-city neighborhoods for the “local experience,” thereby
displacing working-class residents. 

The people of New York decided earlier this year that the person they
most trusted to decrease the cost of living is Zohran Mamdani, a
card-carrying member of the Democratic  Socialists of America (DSA).
The Uganda-born, Muslim candidate ran on promises of freezing rent,
faster and cheaper public transport, universal childcare as well as
city-owned grocery stores. He also proposed increasing taxes on rich
citizens. 

Just a few months later, the craze for a leftist mayor crossed the
Atlantic and reached the German capital Berlin. The party “Die
Linke” (The Left) recently won the Berlin mayoral election with
25.7% of the votes cast, way ahead of the second-placed CDU which came
in at 18.8%. The latter is currently running the city in a coalition
with the center-left Social  Democrats (SPD). According to exit
polls, up to 42% of voters in Berlin decided their vote based on a
party's plans to lower rent costs, with 37% of voters believing that
Die Linke had the best plans to do so.

FROM ZOHRAN MAMDANI TO ELIF ERALP 

The mayoral candidate for Die Linke is Elif Eralp, a 45-year-old
daughter of Turkish immigrants and mother of two. The parallels to
Mamdani are striking: both have a migration  background, both are
democratic socialists, and both ran campaigns on making their cities
affordable again. Elif Eralp and Die Linke, however, explicitly took a
page out of Mamdani’s playbook and modelled their campaign after
his, focusing on lowering rents, cheaper public transport, and cleaner
neighborhoods. In fact, her campaign slogan was “Making Berlin 
Affordable.” 

During his electoral campaign, Mamdani faced a fierce opposition, both
in the Democratic primary and in the general election. A major reason
for this opposition was Mamdani’s promise to tax the rich, his
critique of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, as well as his immigrant
background and Muslim faith, which was extensively used for
fear-mongering. After the Berlin election, Eralp is confronted with
similar hostility – also because of her party’s economic policies,
her immigrant background, and the Left Party’s critique of
Israel’s government. 

The similarities go even further. Both campaigns were not driven by
“big money” but by  “people’s power ": thousands of
enthusiastic young activists knocking hundreds of thousands of doors,
and both campaigns outdid their opponents with their savvy social
media campaigns. 

There is a significant difference, however, in how the cities’
political systems work: While in  the US electoral system, mayors are
elected directly, in Germany people vote for a party. The share of
votes is then translated into the party’s strength in the city
council, which elects the mayor. This means even though Die Linke came
out way ahead of the other parties, it still  needs coalition
partners in order to elect Eralp and to govern the city for the next
five years. 

Before the election, the “left camp” of Die Linke, SPD, and Greens
was poised to form a coalition government, as they had already done
between 2016 and 2023. Since the election on September 20, however,
there has been a staunch effort by a variety of mostly right-leaning
groups, newspapers, and business lobbyists to prevent Eralp from being
elected mayor. This campaign against Eralp and Die Linke revolves
around two arguments: First, the  Left Party’s critique of Israel,
which in the German political context is almost unheard of (Germany
has been Israel’s second-closest ally after the US); and second, Die
Linke’s plan to expropriate the city’s largest real estate
companies (such as Vonovia SE), which own more than 3,000 apartments
in the city each. 

This plan goes back to a popular vote in 2021, when a large majority
of voters (59%)  approved the policy measure taking said apartments,
around 220,000 in total, out of the  hands of private corporations
and turning them into publicly owned housing associations.  The
argument behind this move is that because currently a large chunk of
rents is handed  out to shareholders, rents could be lowered and
publicly controlled. 

Counterarguments include the anticipated costs. According to German
law, to expropriate  anything, you need to financially compensate the
expropriated. How much the entire project  would cost is unclear, as
courts would need to finally set the compensation level. 

Expropriation is not the only thing Die Linke wants to do in order to
fight rising rents and  “make Berlin affordable.” Creating a cap
on rent – with a task force alongside it to ensure landlords don’t
illegally charge too much rent – has also been a reason for the
party’s popularity with voters. On the federal level, Die Linke has
already created an App where  renters can check if the rent they pay
is illegal, and whether the cost of utilities is too high. 
Furthermore, Die Linke also wants the construction of new affordable
(social) housing. 

If it seems like Die Linke’s campaign is very rent-price centric,
it’s because it’s such a  prominent issue in the city. As in New
York and many other large cities across the Western world, young
people in Berlin can’t afford to move out of their parents’
apartments, lower- and middle-class families are getting priced out of
neighborhoods they have lived in for decades, and there just aren’t
enough rent-stabilized apartments. 

WILL ELIF ERALP PREVAIL? 

The negotiating skills of Eralp and her colleagues will now be put to
the test. As the SPD so  far has been skeptical on the issue of
expropriation, it looks like we’re heading towards a standoff
between the two parties. 

If no coalition agreement can be reached, the second-placed party, the
conservative CDU,  would have a chance at forming a coalition with
the SPD and the Greens – which has already been labelled a
“coalition of losers” since each of the three parties lost
significantly. This

move would bear a huge risk, as the current city government of CDU and
SPD has clearly been voted out of office. Just taking in the Greens
carries a heavy weight for both SPD and  Greens, as voters have
clearly voiced their preference for a center-left coalition. 

Whether plans to expropriate large real estate corporations are
included or not, a coalition  agreement needs to be reached. A
government led by the CDU would signal a continuation  of the
political course which has made the party (as well as the SPD) so
unpopular in the first place. Overpriced rents, lobby-driven politics
and a political style which continues to stray further and further
from the lower- and middle class have worn out voters over the past
years.  

Die Linke in Berlin profited from this by focusing on a few core
issues with concrete promises that are within reach. Eralp has, much
like Mamdani, managed to build on a growing feeling of distrust
towards the establishment.  

As promises of affordability made by CDU and SPD have proven to remain
empty ones, voters  want a change in strategy and face. International
media coverage and social platforms have made it easier to see how
different policy models work around the world and put it on display.
In this case, the grass is greener in New York City, and Berliners
have made it clear that they want similar policies. This is what Elif
Eralp understood.  

Die Linke could be a fresh start for Berlin and a chance to show its
citizens that there are still  politicians who care about regular
people. At the same time, it is clear that if the Left Party is 
going to lead the new city government, they are doomed to deliver.

_[LEO SCHARENBERG is a second-year psychology student based in Berlin.
He has a strong interest in global politics, with a particular focus
on developments in Germany and the United States. Whether analysing
current events or exploring historical and psychological crossovers in
today’s political landscape, he enjoys hearing different
perspectives and sharing his own.]_

_COMMON WORLD_ [[link removed]]_, a young political
dialogue magazine combines political essays, personal stories,
insightful social critique, and interviews with inspiring people to
curate an experience that enriches you by making you think. _

_COMMON WORLD, therefore, is a community, a virtual collection of
stories, an attempt to shape a conscious generation of leaders, and a
way to expand your horizon._

 

* New York City
[[link removed]]
* Berlin
[[link removed]]
* Left Politics
[[link removed]]
* democratic socialists
[[link removed]]
* DSA
[[link removed]]
* Democratic Socialists of America
[[link removed]]
* socialism
[[link removed]]
* Die Linke
[[link removed]]
* Germany
[[link removed]]
* Zohran Mamdani
[[link removed]]
* Elif Eralp
[[link removed]]
* youth
[[link removed]]
* Immigrants
[[link removed]]
* Affordability crisis
[[link removed]]
* Housing
[[link removed]]
* childcare
[[link removed]]
* people's power
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Bluesky [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]