There's the inroads of the far right, but also the broader desire for change. Introducing Berlin's answer to Zohran Mamdani: Elif Eralp, who led the far-left Die Linke party's historic win in Sunday's municipal elections in Berlin. We ask if the 45-year-old daughter of Turkish political exiles can push through her promises of rent freezes and nationalisation of private real estate companies. Just like in New York last year, affordable housing was a hot-button issue. It didn't hurt that her party ran a social media-savvy campaign.
Contrast that with the German chancellor's Christian Democrats, who not only lost the capital but for the first time since World War II failed to win enough votes to sit in a regional parliament.
The result in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg–West Pomerania is also a pain point for Germany's other historic big tent party: yes, the Social Democrats limited the damage, but the far-right AfD won more votes.
A capital city that goes red, a rust belt region that's turning increasingly far right – it's all part of a pattern. Is it about winners and losers of globalisation, a generation gap with younger voters sick of all the boomers who cling to power, some even say a gender gap with younger women voting left and younger men far right. How fast and how deep is the change in our politics?
Produced by François Picard, Théophile Vareille, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.
