Berlin's election posters kick off campaign

This is how campaigning begins for real in Germany — overnight, about six weeks before the election, parties and candidates are allowed to hang up placards in the streets. In Berlin, where September 26 will see local elections for the districts and the city-wide house of representatives as well as federal elections, this means hundreds of smiling faces appeared on every street.

Election posters means complex issues have to be summed up in one slogan. Outside a police station in the district of Neukölln, the center-right CDU position themselves against recent anti-police sentiment — "Because we love you, Berlin police." The environmentalist Greens, once a fringe party and now trying to appeal to mainstream fans of law and order, say: "Climate protection needs justice."

"Vote for stable pensions now," a poster for the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) proclaims, with a picture of their chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz. The SPD is the biggest party in the Berlin house of representatives and the second-biggest in the Bundestag, but they have struggled in the polls in recent years. With policies like this, they are hoping to broaden their appeal.

The far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party are using the slogan "Berlin, but normal" in their campaign. They have been opposed to coronavirus restrictions. Here they also take on a big Berlin issue: Traffic. "Your car would vote for us," the poster says, an apparent jab at those parties that want to introduce a speed limit or ban cars from cities.

The Left Party is one of those parties also campaigning in non-German languages in multicultural Berlin. This poster in Arabic reads "Protect the tenant!" But around one-third of Berlin residents are unable to vote at federal elections because only German citizens are eligible. For local district elections, all European Union citizens are allowed to vote.

The pro-free market Free Democrats (FDP) are positioning themselves as a party of the future and of economic strength in an attempt to appeal to businesses. "The center also needs a bulwark," one poster reads, implying that the central Berlin district "Mitte," where many businesses are based, needs to be defended.

Aside from the six parties currently represented in the parliament, a number of smaller parties are also standing for election. The communist Marxist-Leninist German party is one of them, with the slogan "1000 hopes, one consequence: REBELLION!" But as parties need at least 5% of the vote to enter parliament at either the state or federal level, fringe parties have little chance of getting in.

Finally, not just political parties use the chance to put placards up in the street. The citizens' initiative "Dispossess Deutsche Wohnen und co." calls for one of Berlin's biggest landlords to be expropriated after a controversial ruling earlier in the year allowed landlords to raise rents for the first time in several years. This sign in Turkish reads: "Let Berlin be our home."