House of Representatives election | Elif Eralp wants to implement this on the first day

Elif Eralp (Left Party) wants to change Berlin on his first day in office. Photo: nd/Doro Zinn At the end of her appearance at the press conference, Elif Eralp becomes fundamental. “With the new year, a new era begins in Berlin,” she announces. "For a more social Berlin, for a Berlin of social cohesion and solidarity." The Left Party's top candidate for the House of Representatives election on Sunday ultimately has big plans. On 336 pages, the Left election program presents reform proposals from the expropriation of large housing companies to the renovation of the regatta course in Grünau.

Achieving all of this would be difficult in a legislature even if, contrary to all expectations, the Left were to achieve an absolute majority on Sunday - and not just become the strongest force with around 20 percent, as election forecasts predict. That's why you want to start with small steps. Eralp promises that she will implement five points on her first day in office as governing mayor. “This will be implemented immediately,” she says.

It is hardly surprising which topic tops the list: Eralp wants to curb the increase in rents with two immediate measures. “The rent question is the crucial social question of our time,” says the left-wing politician. The Senate could directly influence the state-owned housing companies through shareholder instructions. 400,000 people live there, almost a quarter of all tenants in Berlin.

Most recently, Gewobag and Co. gradually increased rents by up to eleven percent within three years. “That’s not possible,” says Eralp. The mostly poor tenants in state-owned apartments need relief. Therefore, rents there should be frozen. A maximum of one percent inflation compensation per year should then still be possible. Everyone who lives with private landlords should also benefit from this: Because state-owned apartments are included in the rent index, their rents would have a “rent price-dampening effect,” says Eralp. During the Corona years, the then red-green-red Senate introduced a similar measure. Back then, people spoke of a “moratorium,” but today Eralp prefers to talk about a “rent cap.”

A task force is to be set up for private landlords on their first day of work to investigate rental law violations. At the same time, an entire state authority is to be set up. “Berliners get a ticket for parking incorrectly, but brazen landlords get away with it,” says Eralp.

The focus of the task force should be the fight against rent usury - i.e. against rents that excessively exceed the local comparable rents. Violating this may constitute a criminal offence. So far it has been the responsibility of the districts to pursue this. “Centralization is necessary,” says Eralp. Because the districts sometimes fulfill their responsibilities more and sometimes less well. “This will be a deterrent for all landlords so that rip-offs are no longer possible,” says Eralp.

»With the new year a new era begins in Berlin.«

The fact that the Left Party is in power should also be visible. On the first day, Eralp wants to introduce an additional bulky waste day at the BSR. “So we can support people,” says Eralp. Old furniture and other bulky waste should be picked up close to home in one day. So far, garbage has piled up on many street corners, where it is dumped wildly and illegally. “This is how we improve the cityscape,” says Eralp. Because the state of Berlin is the sole shareholder of the state's own city cleaning company, this step would also be easy to implement - at least from a legal perspective.

“With me, the people of Berlin are moving into the Red City Hall with their problems and worries,” announces Eralp. During the election campaign, she advertises that, as a migrant, mother and tenant, she is confronted with many of the capital's everyday problems. Now she would like to enter into regular dialogue with citizens.

The outgoing Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) also traveled from Spandau to Hellersdorf for a “district tour”. Eralp sets her goal higher: she wants to visit not just the twelve districts, but all 56 districts. “I want to talk to people,” she says. Additional staff should be employed in the Senate Chancellery to deal with citizens' objections.

A symbolic act also made it into the immediate program. In the future there will be an annual New Year's reception for homeless people in the Red Town Hall. “It’s not about champagne and snacks,” says Eralp, “but about getting together with people who have a particularly difficult time.”

Before Eralp can implement her plan, she must first become mayor. Even if Die Linke becomes the strongest force on Sunday, it won't be a sure-fire success. The future coalition partners, the Greens and the SPD, are critical of some of the Left's program points. If compromises are found there, Eralp's party will have to agree to the coalition agreement in a ballot. “We are clearly making the government’s claim,” says Eralp. “This is what the entire party stands for.” Eralp nonchalantly comments on a position paper from internal party opponents of government participation: “It may be that there are individual voices that see it differently, but that has no greater relevance.”

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