Voter turnout at the Berlin regional elections reached 27.9 % at noon, more than 4.5 percentage points in the 2023 elections, the election authority said.
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20/09/2026
by
Lusa
A the largest participation has so far been in the Treptow-Koppenick constituency, with 30,5 % and the lowest in Mitte, with 24,8 %.
So far, no major incidents have been recorded, said the director of the electoral authority, Stephan Bröchler.
The polls predict a close dispute over the first place between The Left, led by Elif Eralp, and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU, by Chancellor Friedrich Merz), with Stefan Evers as head of the list.
However, the polls indicate that the winner will have to look for at least two coalition partners, who may be the Greens and the Social Democratic Party (SPD, centre-left).
The Alternative to Germany (AfD, far right), may double the electoral result it achieved in the last elections in 2023 when it reached 9.1% of the votes, but has no chance of forming government.
According to the last poll of Friday, in the lead, with his candidate Elif Eralp as a favorite, is A Left, with 21 % intention of voting, followed by the CDU of the current mayor Kai Wegner — who was replaced as candidate by Stefan Evers — with 20 %.
The following is the candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Kristin Brinker, with 18 %, with less radical rhetoric than his party colleagues who came out victorious two weeks ago in the eastern region of Saxony-Anhalt, but with great chances of doubling the result of 2023, when he obtained 9,1 %.
The polls put Greens at 15% and SPD at 12%.
On a cloudy day, 2.5 million voters are called upon to deposit their ballots to decide on the composition of the new regional parliament and for the first time, 16 and 17 year olds can take part in the elections.
Since the elections in 2023, the CDU, which at the time won, and the SPD govern together, but after the elections on Sunday Berlin will in any case have a new mayor.
If the left conquers most seats, it will be a historic victory in a city where, since reunification, the CDU and SPD have always alternated as the most voted parties.
The issue of housing shortages and the high rent price, as well as A Left's proposal to expropriate large real estate with buildings of more than 3,000 apartments, can be of crucial importance in this context, as the Greens share this plan, which emerged from a referendum in 2021, in which 59.1 % of voters said yes to expropriation, while the SPD has been reluctant to implement it.