Berlin election campaign centers around radical-left drive to seize properties

BERLIN — Berlin’s leftist parties have a radical answer to the capital’s worsening housing crunch: seize the properties of the real estate giants they blame for ruining the city. That plan has become the most hotly contested issue in an election that takes place Sunday, with a coalition of left-wing parties poised to oust the conservative mayor of Germany’s capital and potentially usher in the first far-left mayor since the fall of the Berlin Wall. “The housing issue is the central social issue facing our city, and I have always said that, if I become mayor, I will pull out all the stops to make Berlin affordable again and lower rents,” said Elif Eralp, the lead candidate for the Left party.