Thursday, 06 November, 2025
The blistering rise of Zohran Mamdani to become mayor of New York City has offered encouragement to left-wing parties across Europe that an unabashedly radical agenda could help turn the tide against right-wing forces at home.
Parties from London to Berlin cheered Mamdani, a 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist whose viral videos and promise of rent controls and taxing the rich in a city seen as a beacon of global capitalism struck a chord with voters.
Parties like Germany's The Left party and Britain's Greens hope to garner momentum from Mamdani's win, signalling they would not dilute their policies or be sucked into the right-wing battleground of migration.
t could also give food for thought to established left-wing parties like Britain's ruling Labour party, which has tanked in the polls since its landslide election victory last year, and Germany's Social Democrats (SPD).
Zack Polanski, who this year became the first Jewish and openly gay leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, has drawn comparisons to Mamdani for his use of social media and calls for a wealth tax to reduce inequality.
An ecstatic Polanski told Reuters that Mamdani's victory shows "hope has triumphed over hate".
"This is important - not just because it's important for New York but actually I think this resonates throughout the world. But this is about improving people's lives, recognising the inequality that lies both at the heart of New York, but frankly, around much of the world."
"And this is about saying: let's lower people's bills and tax multimillionaires and billionaires," said Polanski, whose party has risen in the polls after winning just four seats in 2024.
Cost of living is a major focus in Britain where food price inflation for example hit 19 percent in March 2023, the highest in 45 years, and finance minister Rachel Reeves has signalled "hard choices" and possible tax rises to come.
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The blistering rise of Zohran Mamdani to become mayor of New York City has offered encouragement to left-wing parties across Europe that an unabashedly radical agenda could help turn the tide against right-wing forces at home.
Parties from London to Berlin cheered Mamdani, a 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist whose viral videos and promise of rent controls and taxing the rich in a city seen as a beacon of global capitalism struck a chord with voters.
Parties like Germany's The Left party and Britain's Greens hope to garner momentum from Mamdani's win, signalling they would not dilute their policies or be sucked into the right-wing battleground of migration.
t could also give food for thought to established left-wing parties like Britain's ruling Labour party, which has tanked in the polls since its landslide election victory last year, and Germany's Social Democrats (SPD).
Zack Polanski, who this year became the first Jewish and openly gay leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, has drawn comparisons to Mamdani for his use of social media and calls for a wealth tax to reduce inequality.
An ecstatic Polanski told Reuters that Mamdani's victory shows "hope has triumphed over hate".
"This is important - not just because it's important for New York but actually I think this resonates throughout the world. But this is about improving people's lives, recognising the inequality that lies both at the heart of New York, but frankly, around much of the world."
"And this is about saying: let's lower people's bills and tax multimillionaires and billionaires," said Polanski, whose party has risen in the polls after winning just four seats in 2024.
Cost of living is a major focus in Britain where food price inflation for example hit 19 percent in March 2023, the highest in 45 years, and finance minister Rachel Reeves has signalled "hard choices" and possible tax rises to come.
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