Bodo Ramelow and the left: The alternative

The left is in the midst of a crisis. The fact that Thuringia’s Prime Minister Ramelow wants to run again for the post of head of state is one of the few pieces of good news for the party. But what happens next?

It’s a weekend at the end of November in Erfurt. An appointment that Bodo Ramelow should like. It’s all about him. For his top candidacy in the next state election in Thuringia, which is scheduled to take place in 2024. The 66-year-old first thanks his wife for her support. Their life planning indicated that it was okay for him to compete again.

Ramelow jokes, is in a good mood. That is not a matter of course. There are press conferences where Ramelow is less talkative. The head of state is not always satisfied with questions and reports from journalists. He lets her feel it too. This Saturday, however, he explains himself in detail. He makes it clear that he is aiming for his own majority. The annoyance at the current red-red-green minority government is unmistakable. He wanted to spare himself the little games he was experiencing right now. A dig at the CDU, without whose votes the state government is as good as unable to act.

It would be his third legislature as prime minister if Ramelow’s left became the strongest force again. At the end of the five-year term, he would be almost in his mid-70s. But who else should do it? “Attila,” Ramelow jokes, referring to his dog, who at least has his own Twitter profile on which he is described as Thuringia’s “first dog.”

Kind of an elder statesman in the party

The successor to Ramelow is actually a serious problem. The left in Thuringia lacks charismatic minds like Ramelow. Thuringia’s Left boss Grosse-Röthig also has no answer to the question of who the alternative to Ramelow would have been. Luckily, since he was doing it again, you wouldn’t have had to look for it at all. The fact that Ramelow is postponing his retirement is also a stroke of luck for the Left Federal Executive. Linke boss Martin Schirdewan even came to Erfurt especially for Ramelow’s candidacy announcement. With Ramelow, the battered party once again has a chance to toast to success and does not have to try to drown the frustration as in all state elections.

Because he is so successful, Ramelow has a special status in the left. He can afford more than others. Ramelow repeatedly makes headlines with statements that are not in line with the party line. Most recently, he defended arms deliveries to Ukraine. Anyone who has been attacked has the right to defend themselves. The left chairman Schirdewan was then forced to make a clarification: the position of the party was different.

Unlike Sahra Wagenknecht, however, hardly anyone takes offense at Ramelow. Because Ramelow is now a kind of elder statesman in the party, just like Gregor Gysi is and Oscar Lafontaine might have been. There was an outcry in the party and the public before the federal party conference of the left when it became known that Ramelow was only scheduled to speak for ten minutes. From the party executive it is meanwhile dejected that it was unfortunate. But Ramelow hadn’t let himself be deterred anyway and had spoken almost twice as long.

Prime Minister and Thuringian advertising ambassador

The role of the superfather is one that Ramelow tries to play in Thuringia as well. Hardly a public appointment goes by when he doesn’t refer back to the successes of the federal state. In such moments, Ramelow becomes a Thuringian advertising ambassador. One wonders if that is why he is so passionate, to nip any doubt in the bud that he, the newcomer, is not a real Thuringian.

Ramelow originally comes from Lower Saxony, but came to the East shortly after reunification as a trade unionist and was elected to the Thuringian state parliament in the early 2000s. His second legislature got off to a rocky start. Red-Red-Green in Thuringia did not get its own majority and then the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich was elected Prime Minister with votes from AfD and Union. Thuringia also shook the political structure in the federal government. In the meantime, things have calmed down in Bavaria. Although there is always crunching between the CDU and red-red-green, the minority government works relatively silently. Even if major reforms are not to be expected due to this political constellation.

No stable majority in sight

But it is questionable whether Ramelow will have more room for maneuver after the next state election. According to surveys, a stable majority is not in sight for red-red-green. It boils down to a head-to-head race between the AfD and the left. Right-wing extremist Björn Höcke has already announced that he wants to run for the AfD as the top candidate. Ramelow dismisses the question of whether it will be an election campaign “he vs. Höcke”. But he probably won’t be able to escape.

But Ramelow probably has an advantage: the office bonus. At the Thuringia trend in August of this year more than half of those questioned were satisfied with Ramelow’s work. Even 20 percent of AfD voters agreed. But the name Ramelow alone will probably not be enough to win the state election. It’s about the party he’s running for. The left is currently in a process of disintegration. There are rumors that Sahra Wagenknecht and her supporters are planning a split. A weak left in the federal government also harms the party in the country. Then it will no longer just be about what Ramelow can do for the left, but also how the party can do for him.