Die Linke took 25.7 per cent of Berlin's second votes on Sunday, more than doubling its 2023 share and finishing first in the capital for the first time. The CDU came second on 18.8 per cent — a loss of 9.5 points, the heaviest of any party — followed by the AfD on 16.3, the Greens on 14.3 and the SPD on 12.1.

For the Social Democrats, the party of Willy Brandt and Klaus Wowereit, that is the worst result in the history of Berlin state elections; their lead candidate Steffen Krach called it "catastrophic". The BSW fell 0.3 points short of the five-per-cent threshold and stays out of parliament, as does the FDP on 2.5.

Berlin has voted left. Governing with the left will not be so simple for Elif Eralp.Jan Menzel, rbb24 commentary

Turnout was 74.2 per cent of 2.49 million eligible voters, sharply up from 62.9 per cent in 2023, and 16- and 17-year-olds could vote for the first time. Lead candidate Elif Eralp — who had never held a senior office before — reads the result as a mandate to become Berlin's governing mayor, but she needs two coalition partners: 158 members were elected, and a majority takes at least 80. A Linke–Green–SPD deal is the obvious route, and the Greens have already signalled willingness. Every party has ruled out the AfD.

The scale of the shift shows up in the map. Die Linke won Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg's five direct mandates outright, taking the original Green stronghold, and in one Wedding polling district it added 29 points to reach 50.5 per cent. It came first in both halves of the city — 27.8 per cent in the former East, 24.1 in the West — the first time the party has been strongest in territory that was once West Germany.