Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain now votes for the Left: Greens see mistakes in their own party

The Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain constituency has reliably gone to the Greens for over 20 years - but that is now over. Pascal Meiser from the Left won here in the federal election on Sunday. This was probably also because Caran Bayram from the Greens no longer wanted to run there after criticism of her own party. What do Meiser and Bayram think of the surprising election result? And does Bayram now regret not running after all? The Berliner Zeitung asked.

Pascal Meiser: “Everyone is panting after the AfD”

"It feels good to have won, of course. I have to say that, anything else would be a lie," Pascal Meiser told the Berliner Zeitung. A few months ago he only thought he had an outside chance, but over the last week the feeling grew that it could work. Why? "We as a party and I as a direct candidate have received incredible support on the streets and at people's doorsteps. The fact that it has now become so clear in the end is of course great."

Overall, the party has shown a clear agenda by seriously addressing people's needs. "Many people told me they were very disappointed with the SPD and the Greens in the traffic light coalition. There is great social uncertainty among the population. People are afraid of losing their homes, and supermarket prices are far too high," said Meiser.

The people in the district told him that the Greens were out of touch and were not interested in them. "I don't want to judge whether that's true or not," says Meiser. "But that's how people got it. On the other hand, people believe that we care about them. For example, when it came to the rent cap, we were very clear and credible," says the election winner, who adds: "Plus, all the other parties are panting after the AfD. But all people, with or without a migration background, have the same rights. We were the only ones who remained consistent in this regard."

Bayram: “I have remained true to myself”

And what does Canam Bayram say about the success of the Left in her former constituency? "The result is a little sad for us. We could have won," she told the Berliner Zeitung. Does she now regret not running for the Greens again? "No. The party's dilemma and the reason why I did not run again is that it is no longer clear what the Greens actually stand for. And that has obviously caused uncertainty among voters," says Bayram, who explains: "We have entered into deportation arias and populist debates that help no one. People have started to question our human rights compass." Habeck's ten-point plan on migration has sown further doubts and also raised the question of whether the Greens could even stand up to Friedrich Merz , Bayram believes. "I did not want to campaign for votes that I did not know what the party leadership would do with. So no, I do not regret not running. I have remained true to myself,” said the lawyer.

Was it also due to the Green candidate Kathrin Schmidberger?

Instead of Canam Bayram, Kathrin Schmidberger ran for the Greens in the constituency. Does the disappointing result for the Greens in Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain have something to do with her as a person? Bayram: "That's difficult to say. But even within the Greens, some found her range of topics too limited. She is strongly committed to rent policy, but she is a person. With the Left, an entire party ran that campaigned for the same issue. " And continued: "There were always people in the district who actually voted for the Left, but then voted for me because I appealed to them as a person, through my biography and through my work. That is no longer the case."

However, it is fundamentally important that the SPD, the Greens and the Left continue to work well together in Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain so that the district remains a safe space for all people and a venue for protests and demonstrations. Also against the AfD, the shift to the right and Merz.

Pascal Meiser says: "I know Ms Schmidberger personally through her work in the House of Representatives and I value her very much." He feels no malice; the Left's election victory could have cost another party its mandate. But it also showed: "The constituency is not a green hereditary estate. It depends on the candidates."