The Berlin Left Party is entering the decisive weeks before the repeat election on February 12 with a ten-point immediate program.

The most important demands include a municipal housing construction program, the consistent implementation of the referendum on the socialization of large real estate companies, and a "Safe Housing Act. This should oblige landlords to comply with minimum social standards.

Proposed are obligations to rent to people with housing entitlement certificates, to renovate and maintain houses, to exclude demolition and to disclose ownership.

As reported, the Left Party wants to promote municipal housing construction by investing one billion euros per year. According to the Left Party, this would allow 7500 municipal apartments to be built per year and around 50,000 apartments with an average rent of between 7 and 7.50 euros per square meter to be built by 2030.

In addition, the Left Party is promoting the continuation and expansion of the nine-euro ticket, known as a social ticket, to include the ABC fare zone. The left demands a nationwide valid ticket based on the model of the social ticket and wants to continue to municipalize the Berlin S-Bahn.

Top candidate Klaus Lederer assured, in the case of a positive vote of the expert commission appointed by the Senate to implement the expropriation referendum quickly want to come to a result. The goal must be to work out a bill with the Senate by the end of 2023, pass it and present it to the House of Representatives, Lederer explained.

Current polls put the Left Party at 12 percent of the vote, threatening to repeat its loss of two percentage points compared to the 2016 and 2021 elections. The Left is the only one of the three governing parties to have committed early on to continuing the current coalition. If the relaunch fails, the Left Party faces the threat of going into opposition.

Photo by Tierra Mallorca