Victories by far left and far right show Germans sick of politics as usual

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Democracy Dies in Darkness

In a striking show of antiestablishment voter sentiment, the Left won in Berlin on the same night that the far-right Alternative for Germany won in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.

September 22, 2026 at 3:34 p.m. EDT9 minutes ago

Elif Eralp, lead candidate of the leftist Die Linke in Berlin, took inspiration from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for her campaign. (Nadja Wohlleben/Getty Images)

BERLIN — An audible gasp swept through the watch party of the Christian Democratic Union — the party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz and mainstay force in German politics — as election results on Sunday evening showed it failing to win seats in a state legislature for the first time since the party’s founding in 1945.