Parties: Possible Wagenknecht party? This is how the left reacts

The left-wing MP Sahra Wagenknecht’s considerations of perhaps founding a new party have kept the left in suspense for many months. According to a report by the “taz”, at a meeting with leading politicians from the Left Party, Wagenknecht was given an ultimatum to decide by Friday whether she wanted to stay in the party or not.

When asked in Berlin on Monday, co-party leader Martin Schirdewan only confirmed that there was a meeting. He did not comment on the content and referred to the agreed confidentiality. The chairman of the parliamentary group, Dietmar Bartsch, also confirmed the conversation, but contradicted the account of the “taz” and said on Deutschlandfunk, “there can be no question of ultimatums”.

Wagenknecht should declare himself by June 9th

According to the newspaper report, the executive party executive met with Wagenknecht on May 25. Bartsch and his co-chairman Amira Mohamed Ali also attended. During the conversation, Schirdewan and co-party leader Janine Wissler asked Wagenknecht to explain themselves by June 9, the “taz” reported, citing party circles. The further procedure would then be discussed at a board meeting of the left one day later, i.e. this Saturday.

Schirdewan confirmed that the party executive will meet for consultation this weekend. When asked if this was a crucial week for the left, he said that for his party, every day and week is always a crucial day and week.

Schirdewan: Disrespectful towards members

The left chairman reiterated his criticism of the mind games about the founding of a competing party. The talk about it harms the left and represents disrespect for the members who are committed to their content on a daily basis.

Wagenknecht himself did not comment on Monday’s request. The fact is: There are mental games for founding a party. Concrete plans may already be in progress. Probably the best-known left-wing politician had announced that she would decide how to proceed by the end of the year. She had previously declared that she would no longer run for the Bundestag for the left. Polls had shown that 20 to 30 percent of people could at least imagine voting for a Wagenknecht party.

Disputes of principle for years

There has been a dispute over fundamental positions between the 53-year-old and the party leadership and other members for years. In refugee policy, she spoke out against open borders; she expressed skepticism about vaccination during the Corona period; in her book “The Self-Righteous” Wagenknecht settled accounts with the gender and climate-related part of her party, and when it comes to Ukraine, she also offends with her course, which some find too close to Russia.

But she also has supporters in the party and parliamentary group. For example, the Bochum MP Christian Leye, a former employee in Wagenknecht’s constituency office. He criticized the left leadership on Monday. In a crisis situation with a “worn-out traffic light” and an AfD at 19 percent, “the left-wing opposition collapses at a lousy 4 to 5 percent,” he told the dpa. “When does the party executive actually want to do its homework and work on a political offer that will reach and convince the voters again?”. The party leadership prefers to discuss ultimatums against what is by far the most popular politician on the left “instead of finally questioning its own course.”