Sahra Wagenknecht leaves the Left and founds her own party. The politician announced this in Berlin. In order to prepare the new party, the association “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht – For Reason and Justice” was founded.
The chairman of the association and former parliamentary group leader of the Left in the Bundestag, Amira Mohamed Ali, said that she resigned from the party on Monday morning together with Wagenknecht and eight other members of the Left faction. The group wants to stay in the parliamentary group for the time being.
The new party should be founded in January 2024 and compete in the European elections in June, said Lukas Schön, the association’s managing director. The aim is also to run in the East German state elections in September in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, said Wagenknecht, “but whether we really make it in all three will of course depend on how the state associations are set up by then and which candidates we have on site”.
What the content should be about
Wagenknecht justified her move by saying that there was a political void that needed to be filled. Many people no longer felt represented by any party. She is convinced that the way things are going in the country should not continue. “Otherwise we probably won’t recognize our country in ten years.”
“More social balance, more social justice – these issues finally belong at the top of the political agenda again,” said Wagenknecht about the new party’s most important content. Détente policy must also play a larger role. Conflicts could not be resolved militarily. What is needed is a “strong political force that consistently promotes peace, diplomacy and negotiated solutions.” In addition, Wagenknecht spoke of a fourth “big issue” that will be addressed: “It is our great concern that the corridor of opinion in our country becomes wider again.”
The left faction is in danger
For the left, the new project is a danger: not just as competition in future elections, but very soon. If the breakaway left leaves the Bundestag faction, it will lose its faction status and can only continue as a group. She gets fewer parliamentary rights and also less money.
Mohamed Ali and her colleagues expressed their willingness to “remain in the left-wing faction until the new party is actually founded.” They would also like to see an orderly transition in the interests of the employees.
Parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch confirmed that ten MPs had left the party. He called the move “irresponsible and unacceptable.” Whether they are allowed to remain members of the group will be decided “sovereignly and calmly”.
“Politically no other choice” than a new party
In the direction of the left, the group spoke clearly: parties are not an end in themselves, they have to fulfill a task, said Christian Leye, deputy chairman of the new association: “Our old party no longer did this.” The group decided to found a new party because “politically we have no other choice,” said Leye. “All our attempts to correct course were in vain.” However, the left is “not our political opponent,” said Wagenknecht.
Wagenknecht does not want to give up her mandate and make room for a successor from the Left Party. She said she had received many messages that the Left had been elected because of her, and that her positions should continue to be represented in the Bundestag.
Can Wagenknecht stop the AfD from soaring?
With their new project, the group wants to woo voters not only within the Left Party, but also on the other side of the political spectrum. There the AfD is experiencing a surge and is polling at more than 20 percent nationwide. “We would like to take on the political responsibility to oppose this development,” said Leye. The new political project could actually be dangerous for the AfD: Many right-wing voters can apparently imagine voting for a Wagenknecht party. She doesn’t want to work with the right-wing extremist party: “Of course we won’t work together with the AfD,” said Wagenknecht.
The name is only intended to be a temporary solution
The name “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht” suggests that the association and the new party will be tailored entirely to the polarizing 54-year-old. However, the name is only a temporary solution, said Wagenknecht. “When you start a new party, it first has to establish itself,” she said, referring to elections. In the federal election, for example, she could only run in one federal state and not in the other federal states. “But people have to be able to identify which party that is,” said Wagenknecht, who repeatedly campaigned for donations with her fellow campaigners.