Ballot no. 4
Die Linke
Die Linke
Standing statewide
About the party
Die Linke was formed in 2007 by the merger of the PDS, successor to the GDR’s ruling party SED, and the WASG, founded in 2005 in opposition to the SPD-led government’s Agenda 2010 reforms. It stands on the left of the German party system and commits itself to “democratic socialism”, calling for a social-ecological transformation of the economy. In Berlin the PDS entered parliament in 1990, and the party governed with the SPD from 2002 to 2011 and in a red-red-green coalition from 2016 to 2023.
A neutral three-sentence summary, in the same format for every party, of the profile published by the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb). Read the full profile: bpb profile for Berlin 2026 ↗ · bpb: Parties in Germany ↗
Lead candidate(s)
Source: Press reporting (ZDF, t-online, Sept 2026); confirmed as approved candidates in Amtsblatt Nr. 36.
Result in 2023
12.2% of second votes (185,119 votes)
Source: Landeswahlleiterin Berlin, 12 Feb 2023 · Data as of 2026-09-11
On the 2026 ballot
78 direct candidates · 95 on district lists · 0 on the state list · 314 on BVV lists
Positions by theme
The same six themes and the same template as on the Berlin-agenda page: the party’s own chapter title, a neutral summary of that chapter, and a link into the original.
Housing & rent
All parties on this theme →Mieten, Wohnen, Bauen ↗p. 14–22
Frames the crisis as a "rent emergency" caused by a "rent mafia". Within 100 days: a rent cap for the 400,000 city-owned flats — one-year freeze, then max 1% a year, rents over 20% above the Mietspiegel cut on request, re-lets 10% below it; inside the S-Bahn ring 100% of vacated city flats go to WBS holders. Makes a Berlin socialisation law on the basis of the referendum initiative's draft (220,000 flats) a top priority in any coalition. A rent-usury task force, a ban on furnished short-term lets in Milieuschutz areas, a stop on demolitions, an occupancy right for flats empty over a year, and no evictions for rent arrears at city companies.
Transport & mobility
All parties on this theme →Mobilität und Verkehr ↗p. 55–63
"Transport policy is social policy": 90% of trips by foot, bike and public transport by 2035. Social ticket back to €9, a Deutschland-Sozialticket, free tickets for BuT pupils, a "bye car, hello D-Ticket" swap, and a long-term goal of fare-free transport funded by a solidarity levy (tourist levy, mobility pass). Lift the planning stop for trams, extend to Spandau instead of a maglev, target a 90-second U-Bahn headway with automation, electrify buses by 2035, at least a 10-minute bus frequency everywhere, communalise the S-Bahn, and push Tempo 30 as the default speed.
Migration & participation
All parties on this theme →Flucht und Migration ↗p. 275–283
Goal: "global freedom of movement, equal rights for all". Wants active and passive voting rights in Berlin for everyone after five years' residence regardless of passport, easier naturalisation without income or degrading test hurdles, a City-ID for undocumented people, a hiring quota for people with migration history in the administration, and the LEA moved out of the Interior department. On asylum: "every deportation is one too many" — use all state powers for residence rights and temporary deportation stops, no detention or movement restrictions, no payment card, dissolve mass shelters like Tegel, extend WBS eligibility to all refugees and open state admission programmes for Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Gaza and Lebanon.
Inneres ↗p. 286–294
"Social solutions for social problems": stop the "ever more expensive arming of the police", bring headcount down to the level of other city-states plus capital-city needs, and redirect the money to crisis services and street social work. Abolish "crime-burdened places" and weapons-ban zones, dismantle hotspot units, remove the Görlitzer Park fence, mandatory control receipts for every ID check, no Tasers outside special forces, no state trojans, no biometric or Palantir-style AI analysis, fight the new ASOG reform. Wants a stronger police commissioner with investigative powers, a legal right to film police, bodycams activated on request, non-police crisis teams, and to strike the mask ban from the assembly law.
Climate & energy
All parties on this theme →Klima, Umwelt, Tierschutz ↗p. 192–200
Climate-neutral "by 2040 at the latest", climate protection in the state constitution, a climate reservation for every bill and binding sector budgets. Renovation rate to at least 2% a year with warm-rent-neutral rules, abolition of the modernisation surcharge, no new gas boilers in public buildings, a cap on district-heating prices, solar on all suitable public roofs by 2030, wind mainly in industrial areas with district revenue sharing, hydrogen only where no electric alternative exists, GASAG recommunalised or socialised if the price is fair, one million street trees by 2040 — using parking spaces if needed — and no building on Tempelhofer Feld as a cold-air area.
Education
All parties on this theme →Bildung ↗p. 152–160
Fee-free education from kita to university, extended: free after-school care to grade 4, free learning materials and lunch through upper secondary. Medium-term goal to overcome the tiered school system: every district must start at least two new Gemeinschaftsschulen by 2031, new schools built as Gemeinschaftsschulen, Gymnasien encouraged to convert. Rejects new special-needs centres, wants a state inclusion concept and 36 inclusive focus schools; a psychologist per 800 pupils and a social worker per 150 in the long run; working-time recording for teachers; the freedom to trim timetables where teachers are lacking, prioritising language and individual support.
Summaries written 2026-09-11 in neutral wording from the documents linked in each row. They are not the parties’ own texts.
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