Berlin is facing a watershed election — what an opportunity.
A new House of Representatives will be elected in 2026. We are experiencing exploding rents, growing inequality and fewer and fewer spaces for culture, socialising and a good life in the city. We refuse to accept this. That is why we are bringing momentum to the election campaign — with concrete demands, real allies and organised pressure.
Political change does not happen on its own.
He needs an organised urban society capable of action that shifts majorities and builds public pressure. We stand for transparent political decisions, binding participation and a permanent role for us Berliners in political decisions.
📣 Our approach:
01
Organise
02
Build a network
03
To become visible
04
Apply pressure
05
Keep going
Three phases until the election.
From local neighbourhood organising to active door-to-door campaigning — structured, hyper-local, and with real pressure.
Structure & Strategy
Structure of coordination circle, working groups and club structure. Analysis of the marginal seats in East and West Berlin. Development of concrete demands with a focus on housing, public transport, schools and participation.
Mobilisation & party outreach
Establishment of district groups in focus districts. Approach to candidates: Who is making a binding commitment to our demands? Launch of the public campaign at Kick-off on 19 April 2026.
Active election campaign
doorstep campaigning in key constituencies. Active support for candidates with binding commitments. During coalition negotiations: public pressure.
What we want — and what we will enforce.
These five demands are at the centre of our campaign. Candidates who commit to them will enter into a city agreement with us.
Every glance at a property portal shows us: most flats offered to us Berliners are unaffordable. They are illegal because they are above the rent index. Many are even so high that they Exorbitant rents and therefore punishable by law are.
At the same time, we can find many of the apartments on holiday rental portals in which we could actually be living as tenants. That is also prohibited.
Although this happens in plain sight, Berlin hardly takes any action against these violations of the law. This state inaction regarding criminal landlords is at all our expense.
In Berlin, people are now paying money just to have their name on a doorbell somewhere. That is a scandal. What sounds like a bureaucratic problem means for many people exclusion, dependency and existential uncertainties in everyday life for them and their families. Without registration, you cannot open a bank account, take a job, or apply for benefits such as child benefit, housing benefit, or student financial aid.
This is exacerbated by the Berlin housing crisis. An overheated housing market long ago ceased to determine only who can live where, but also who can practically exercise their rights and who cannot.
Particularly affected are homeless and unhoused people, people in precarious living conditions, those with low incomes, students, single parents, refugees, migrants and people without a secure residence status.
Registration is more than just an administrative act. A democratic city must not tie belonging and participation to a tenancy agreement, passport or wealth. Whoever lives in Berlin must be able to exercise their rights, have a say and take part in the political life of this city – and that includes local voting rights for all. Especially in times of right-wing extremism, social hardship and societal division, Berlin must lead the way as a progressive city and offer a practice of solidarity in opposition to the federal government's restrictive course.
Everyone in Berlin must have the opportunity to get from A to B in their everyday lives. That must not be a question of the size of one's wallet. Because mobility is an essential prerequisite for participation and the exercise of fundamental rights. Especially in a big city like Berlin, this is relevant for the daily lives of hundreds of thousands. The 9-euro ticket showed that affordable mobility for everyone is possible. Especially for people with little money, it made mobility noticeably easier. Nevertheless, it was abolished again. Since then, ticket prices have only known one direction: upwards.
An affordable and effective local public transport system reduces traffic jams and thereby also helps those who depend on the car. So far, passengers are primarily the ones paying the high ticket prices. Corporations do not contribute a fair share to the financing of local public transport. Yet they directly benefit from it: customers get to the shops, employees reach their workplace. Therefore, corporations must also contribute to the financing of public transport.
The current school system means stress for parents and children. It is socially unjust. Before they even get a proper chance to develop their skills and interests, children are sorted into different types of school. The pressure on grammar schools is high. This raises the barriers to entry and children sometimes have to endure long journeys across the city. This is driving the social polarisation of Berlin.
In hardly any other country in the world are children separated into different types of school at such an early age. There is still a social mix in Berlin's districts. This must also be reflected in the schools.
A Vonovia tenant pays an average of every month €166 of your rent to the shareholders of the corporation. While many of us no longer know how to pay the next bill, the residential property companies are making bumper profits. Berliners are agreed: housing should no longer be speculated with.
That is why in 2021 over 1 million Berliners voted in favour of the referendum on the socialisation of large, profit-driven housing companies. Furthermore, an expert commission set up by the Senate has determined that socialisation is both feasible and affordable. Despite this, the current coalition of the CDU and the SPD is refusing to implement the clear will of Berlin's citizens. This is a democratic scandal and ensures that our rent continues to end up in the pockets of the shareholders of Vonovia, Heimstaden and co.
Those who commit themselves will receive our support.
Candidates who commit to our five demands sign this agreement with BerlinZusammen — and in return receive active election campaign support.