Berlin election

Early results from Brazil's 2026 presidential election abroad show Senator Flávio Bolsonaro running second to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva among Brazilian voters overseas. Outlets report Lula leading in Italy, China and Berlin, where he took 83% of valid votes, while Flávio Bolsonaro remained below Jair Bolsonaro's past showing in Japan. Nearly one million Brazilians abroad were eligible to vote, with ballots also cast in Israel, the Palestinian territories and Ukraine.

A counting error in Berlin's Spandau district meant the AfD was initially awarded a direct mandate in the Berlin Abgeordnetenhaus that actually belonged to the CDU. The mistake has drawn attention to the reliability of vote counting in the German capital and is fueling debate about the AfD's growing strength in Berlin elections, with outlets including Spiegel covering the incident.

Germany's debate over lowering the voting age to 16 is back in focus, with discussion of how parties courted young voters in Berlin, where 16- and 17-year-olds can already vote in state elections. Commentary is examining what first-time young voters expect from Berlin's parties and how much their votes influenced the political landscape.

Following the Berlin election, initial three-party talks on forming a new city government have started. Thorsten Frei, a senior CDU politician, is among the figures drawing attention as parties negotiate a coalition. Discussions are expected to determine whether the CDU can govern with partners in the capital and what the next Berlin Senate will look like.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the far-right Alternative for Germany party is backed by Russia, intensifying his criticism of the opposition. The AfD won two regional elections last month and leads in all major national polls, making it the country's most popular party ahead of Merz's coalition. Merz's sharper rhetoric signals growing alarm in Berlin over the party's rise and its ties to Moscow.

A voting error in Berlin's election has been resolved in a way that hands a direct constituency mandate to the AfD instead of the CDU, according to reporting by WELT. As a result, the AfD gains a seat won outright, the Christian Democrats lose out, and the city's Abgeordnetenhouse will be smaller than originally counted. The affair has revived criticism of Berlin's troubled electoral administration, which has faced repeated scandals over ballot mistakes in recent years.

Up to 100,000 people without papers are estimated to live in Berlin, and the campaign 'Legalisierung Jetzt!' is urging a new left-wing alliance to improve their situation. The demand comes ahead of elections, with the campaign arguing that legalisation and better access to rights should be a priority for the next city government.

A research team from TU Berlin and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz used artificial intelligence to analyse 1.4 million posts on X about the Berlin election. The goal was to test how political debates online can be structured and evaluated. Key findings show the AfD dominated the discourse, raising questions about the party's outsized presence in social media political debate.