Elif Eralp, a 45-year-old lawyer and daughter of Turkish political migrants, is on the verge of becoming Berlin's next mayor after her far-left party, Die Linke, won roughly 26% of the vote in last weekend's city-state election — outpacing the Social Democrats, the Greens, and the CDU (the conservative party of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz). Eralp, who drew particular support from young voters and first-time voters through intensive door-to-door and social media campaigning, has made housing affordability her central issue, pledging to expropriate more than 200,000 flats from corporate landlords — a plan Merz has vowed to block at the federal level. Her path to the Rotes Rathaus (Berlin's historic red-brick city hall) is not yet secured, however, as potential coalition partners the Social Democrats and the Greens are demanding urgent answers over allegations that Die Linke has failed to adequately address antisemitism within its ranks and alleged ties to criminal networks — claims the party denies.