Election winner in need of explanation

My left, left seat is free, so I wish for Remmo. Chair at the state party conference of the Berlin Left Party, September 25th

On election evening on September 20th, a fairly heterogeneous left-wing audience gathered at the Left Party's election party in the “Festsaal Kreuzberg”. Between long-standing members there are people from anti-fascist and anti-racist groups and initiatives, tenant activists and trade unionists, Turkish and Kurdish leftists and many from an academic left-wing milieu. In between there are individual younger people and small groups wearing keffiyehs.

While Elif Eralp, the party's top candidate in Berlin, disappeared from the hall to give interviews, election coverage was shown on the screen. Results of the post-election survey are also presented: 47 percent of Berliners think that anti-Semitic positions get too much space in the Left Party. At the same time, 60 percent support the Left Party’s criticism of the State of Israel. There are boos in the ballroom and “Viva Palestine” is shouted. In the noise, it's hard to tell where the shouts are coming from and how many are shouting along. The only thing that is clear is that not everyone is participating. But there is no clear contradiction either.

An evaluation by Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) also shows a connection between the party's results and the proportion of Berliners with a migrant background, especially in the former West Berlin.

Later, the top candidate comes back into the hall from the backstage area via the stairs. Turkish music is playing. Eralp goes into the middle of the crowd and dances along. Suddenly chants of “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” break out and more and more people join in. "Woman, Life, Freedom" - the slogan of the Kurdish women's movement, which became known worldwide through the uprising against the Islamist regime in Iran.

To read this content, an online subscription is required::