Election in Berlin: With the Flex to the horseshoe

It's a black day in Berlin. As was the case two weeks ago after the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the mood on Sunday evening in the capital was clouded. The Left Party won by far, and a government with the participation of the Greens and the SPD is possible. And now fear is spreading on the streets. What should happen next? What does this mean for our future? One thing is clear: it will be dark. At least that's the feeling anyone who took a look at social and established media shortly after the first forecasts for the state elections in Berlin got.

One of the fearmongers: Friedrich Merz. The forecasts from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the capital had just been published when the Chancellor cheekily pushed himself in front of the camera. Although it was not yet clear at that point that the CDU would be kicked out of the state parliament in MV, most people expected the Chancellor to resign. But things turned out differently.

He said little with many words. In summary: The results are a disaster, but everything remains as it is. And above all, I stay. What is more interesting is who Merz declared to be the enemy in his short speech. Namely the “radical parties left and right”. On Monday he repeated this enemy image in a press release.

Of course he means the Left Party and the AfD. He receives support from his party colleague and Interior Minister from Saxony, Armin Schuster, who describes the Left's election victory as a “slap in the face of righteous citizens”. He says: “Anyone who does not show a clear stance against clan criminals, anti-Semites and left-wing extremists is not allowed to govern in Berlin.”

They both employ the horseshoe theory, according to which the left and right have more similarities with each other than with the center (of which the CDU is a member), and thus fantasize about a world in which the Left Party is as dangerous as a largely secure right-wing extremist party. But this theory not only obscures reality, it trivializes right-wing extremist violence and is extremely dangerous in a situation in which democracy in this country is increasingly under attack.

Now one could expect a CDU that sees itself as a people's party to take real responsibility and question its own politics after the election failures. It could recognize that voters are not satisfied with the fact that they are supposed to be pacified with a fuel discount after announced savings, especially in the social sector.

It is not surprising that CDU politicians do not do this and instead shoot against the left. It is still dangerous. Because with their horseshoe election analysis - a victory for the Left Party would be just as scary as one for the AfD - they are not alone.

There are currently outrageous political comparisons alongside over-the-top polemics in the press. Michael Bröcker, editor-in-chief of Politico, seriously asks X whether there is also “federal pressure against a left-wing mayor.”

In the Tagesspiegel, deputy editor-in-chief Anke Myrrhe assumes that all left-wing voters (i.e. over a quarter of all voters in Berlin!) only care about their own apartment and not “hatred of Jews”. Ulf Poschardt fears the “return of the GDR”. Others are already seeing Hamas terrorists, Islamists and Putin puppets moving into the Red City Hall.

Of course, the Left Party has to put up with questions in interviews about anti-Semites in their own party, short visits from clan heads and their ideas about expropriation. It is the job of the press to critically question politicians and confront them with misconduct.

And it is the task of the parties to take a self-critical look at their own structures. But even now - before a new government is in place - a double standard in reporting is evident. What is ignored or dismissed as isolated cases by conservatives and the right is made a major issue by the left. The goal seems clear: to prevent a left-wing government.

One thing is certain: Nobody has to be happy about a victory for the Left Party, nobody has to trivialize the anti-Semitism of any party, nobody has to be in favor of socializing housing. But anyone who wants to save democracy in this country should finally say goodbye to the horseshoe. And recognize that a victory against the right is a victory for democracy.