With state elections scheduled for September 20th, around a quarter of a million campaign posters are expected to appear on lampposts across the city.
Polls for Berlin's looming state election, set for September 20th, suggest it's going to be a very close race. The latest voter surveys showed the Left Party, the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Greens all within just a couple of percentage points of each other.
With so much uncertainty, it’s little wonder the parties are fighting so aggressively for voters' attention.
But for international residents in the capital city, making sense of the political posters can be a challenge in itself. Many slogans allude to local debates, Berlin-specific frustrations and distinctly German campaign language.
Here's our guide to some of the messages you'll see around Berlin this month, and what they reveal about the parties behind them.
Why Berlin suddenly looks like a political pinboard
Berlin's election poster chaos is partly by design and partly because political parties are, well, political parties.
Under Berlin's election rules, campaign posters could not appear on public streets until noon on August 2nd, exactly seven weeks before election day.
In practice, it seems that many of the parties were unwilling to wait that long this year. Reports of posters appearing early flooded district authorities, triggering investigations and potential fines.
The reason is simple: the best lampposts are limited in number and no one wants to surrender prime space in such a close election.
The result has been an explosion of shining faces, bold promises and occasionally baffling slogans.
Most parties use multiple slogans and often tailor messages to specific neighbourhoods, but the following selection should provide a useful introduction to the issues dominating the campaign – and the positions taken by different parties.
READ ALSO: Average Berlin rents up by almost 7 percent since 2024
The Left Party (Die Linke)
The Left Party, which has edged into first place in some recent polls, is focusing relentlessly on housing and living costs. Nearly every slogan revolves around Berlin's affordability crisis, opposition to gentrification and support for stronger intervention in the housing market.
The demand to expropriate large property companies directly references the successful 2021 referendum to expropriate major landlords.
Slogans include:
Berlin bezahlbar machen – Make Berlin affordable
Verdrängung stoppen – Stop displacement (i.e. of low earners through gentrification)
Immobilienkonzerne enteignen – Expropriate real estate corporations
Tempelhofer Feld kein Bauland – Tempelhof Field is not building land (residents also confirmed they would not like the city to build on Tempelhof airfield in a popular referendum)
Miet-Abzocke stoppen – Stop rent gouging
The Christian Democrats (CDU)
The CDU currently governs Berlin with their junior coalition partners in the SPD. Their campaign attempts to present the party as the grown-up in the room.
Whether discussing crime, administration or public services, the message is essentially the same: Berlin needs stricter management and more discipline.
READ ALSO: What the Berlin mayor's shock withdrawal means for the coming election
Slogans include:
Einer muss vernünftig sein – Someone has to be sensible
Der Endgegner vom Schlendrian – The final boss against complacency
Berlin wird knallhart – Berlin is getting tough
Unf*ck Berlin, a slogan used by the pro-Europe Volt party, is unquestionably the most memorable of the campaign so far. Photo by Tom Pugh
Alternative for Germany (AfD)
Unsurprisingly, the far-right party's campaign focuses heavily on immigration and opposition to climate policies.
The first slogan featured below reflects the party’s longstanding obsession with deportation and crime. The second attacks climate measures by portraying environmental policy as ideological extremism that drives up energy costs.
Presumably, given the AfD’s well-publicised ties to the Putin regime, ‘affordable energy’ here is a euphemism for Russian gas and oil.
Slogan's include:
Kriminelle Migranten abschieben – Deport criminal migrants
Bezahlbare Energie statt Klimawahn – Affordable energy instead of climate madness
READ ALSO: How Germany’s politicians are trying to 'AfD-proof' the country
The Green Party
Perhaps wary of accusations of being excessively ideological, the Greens are running with a practical pitch to voters.
Rather than emphasising grand environmental ambitions, the slogans on their posters typically focus on everyday governance – particularly for schools and public services.
Slogans include:
Schulstress abbauen, Kinder aufbauen – Reduce school stress, empower children
Keine Versprechen. Ein Plan für Berlin – No promises. A plan for Berlin
READ ALSO: Election guide - Germany's main political parties explained
The Social Democrats (SPD)
In its campaign slogans, the SPD combines traditional centre-left concerns about housing with promises of cleaner and safer public spaces.
Once regarded as the natural party of government in Berlin – and lying fifth in some polls at the time of writing – the SPD’s focus on rents overlaps with Die Linke, while slogans about playgrounds, schools and endless construction projects tap into familiar complaints among Berliners.
Slogans include:
Der Mietenwahnsinn endet jetzt – The rent madness ends now
Baustellen sind zum Bauen da, nicht zum Stellen – Construction sites are for building, not standing around
Spielplatz ohne Spritze – Playground without syringes
Grundschule ohne Handy – Primary school without mobile phones
READ ALSO: Berlin schools plagued by rising violence and structural discrimination
The Free Democrats (FDP) and the BSW
These two parties are currently polling below the five-percent threshold needed to enter parliament but remain within outside-chance territory.
Campaign posters from the Green and FDP parties. Photo by Tom Pugh
One slogan used by the liberal FDP links success to language acquisition, presumably as part of an argument in favour of more investment in early-years education:
Gutes Deutsch. Gute Chancen – Good German. Good opportunities
While a slogan used by the BSW – the party founded by Sahra Wagenknecht which mixes left-wing economics with right-wing views on immigration – contrasts pension costs with defence spending and support for Ukraine.
Geld für unsere Rentner statt Milliarden für Raketen – Money for our pensioners instead of billions for missiles
Another, simpler BSW slogan targeting Germany's support for Ukraine reads simply: Nicht unser Krieg! (Not our war!).
The populist party also describes itself as “dangerously honest” (Gefährlich ehrlich) on its campaign posters.
Volt
Volt, which promotes progressive politics and pan-European integration, has not previously hit the five percent threshold to enter parliament in a Berlin election. But the party makes it onto this list by virtue of having written what is arguably the most memorable slogan in this year's campaign.
Unf*ck Berlin captures a frustration shared by many residents, inspired by paperwork delays, malfunctioning public services and increasingly unaffordable housing among other issues.
Another of their slogans – Endlich eine Schmutz-Kampagne (Finally a dirty campaign) – is a joke playing on voter concerns about litter and street cleanliness on the one hand, and political dirty tricks on the other.
