FAQ: What do Wagenknecht’s plans mean for politics?

Today Sahra Wagenknecht presents the association “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht”. He is probably the precursor to their new party. What could the program look like? And what does that mean for the other parties? The overview.

Anyone who goes to the polls in 2024 could find a new party on the ballot. Because the left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht is presenting her association “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht” today. Its purpose will probably be to found its own party. Wagenknecht thus sealed the break with her comrades. Many people no longer feel represented by any party, says the 54-year-old. It’s time to create something new. And: She wants “real power”. What’s going on there? The most important answers.

What does Sahra Wagenknecht want?

Wagenknecht is one of the best-known faces of her current party, Die Linke, but she always caused offense there. Born in Jena in 1969, the daughter of an Iranian father and a German mother joined the SED in 1989. As a member of the “Communist Platform” in the PDS, she retrospectively praised the GDR. From 2015 to 2019, Wagenknecht was co-leader of the Left parliamentary group in the Bundestag. However, in her function she was often at odds with the party leadership.

For health reasons, Wagenknecht resigned from the position and resumed the role of commentator from the sidelines. In 2021 she took aim at what she called the lifestyle left with the book “The Self-Righteous”. The book is a bestseller and she is very well received at public appearances. “It was also a brand from the start,” wrote political scientist Oliver Nachtwey in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. Now she is striking out on her own with her political brand core.

When might it happen?

Many on the left do not expect the actual party to be founded until the beginning of 2024 because this would be cheaper for state financial subsidies. Beforehand, the “Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance” should do the preparatory work and collect donations. The association “BSW – For Reason and Justice” has already been registered by Wagenknecht’s confidants. The statutes make it clear that the association “does not seek to participate in state elections with its own candidates.” However, he could “support the activities of existing political parties or the founding of political parties”.

What could the program of a Wagenknecht party look like?

Unlike the Left, Wagenknecht calls for a limit on the number of refugees and the import of cheap fossil energy such as natural gas from Russia. She rejects the Russia sanctions because of the war in Ukraine as well as arms deliveries to Ukraine. While the Left wants to accelerate the fight against climate change, Wagenknecht criticizes that heat pumps and electric cars are only for higher earners. The left-wing politician Gregor Gysi describes her positions as follows: “She wants to mix: social policy like the Left, economic policy like Ludwig Erhard and refugee policy like the AfD.” She herself says: “Many people no longer feel represented by any party and vote for the AfD out of desperation. I think it would be good if these people had a reputable address again.” It has not yet presented a concrete program.

Who on the left supports Wagenknecht?

In addition to Wagenknecht, a number of fellow campaigners have been announced for today’s presentation at a press conference in Berlin: The previous co-chair of the Left faction Amira Mohamed Ali, Wagenknecht’s confidant and parliamentary group colleague Christian Leye, the former managing director of the Left in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lukas Nice, and the entrepreneur Ralph Suikat takes a seat. In the Bundestag faction of the Left, MPs Klaus Ernst, Alexander Ulrich, Sevim Dagdelen and Jessica Tatti are also among her entourage. It is unclear how many members of the Left would switch to a new Wagenknecht party. A majority in the party does not support their positions.

How does the left react?

Today’s presentation of the “Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance” is a provocation for the party leaders of the Left. Wagenknecht has long since fallen out with Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan. Now Wissler and Schirdewan are trying to take control of the action again. In a resolution that is to be decided by the executive board of the party and the ARD capital studio is available exclusively, it is announced, among other things, that party exclusion proceedings will be initiated against those involved in the “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht” association and that, together with the responsible divisions, it will be examined how membership rights could be revoked.

Co-Chairwoman Wissler said in rbb, as of today it is clear that they are separate people. “It’s a given. Anyone who builds a new party, a party that competes with the left, cannot be a member of the left at the same time.” She regrets that it has come to this.

“Anyone who actively participates in founding a competing party has no place in our party, that’s clear,” said co-chairman Schirdewan ARD morning magazine. The party executive also requests information from the ARD capital studios called on all MPs who participate in the Wagenknecht Association to “resign the mandates they won through the Left”. That is a commandment of decency.

What would a new party mean for the left?

The Left only achieved 4.9 percent of the votes and three direct mandates in the 2021 federal election. It currently has 38 MPs. If Wagenknecht and Co. leave, they can no longer continue as a faction, but only as a group. The most recent state election results were also very weak at two to three percent. The chairmen Martin Schirdewan and Janine Wissler are hoping for a “comeback” when the dispute over the direction with Wagenknecht is finally over. However, the new party could also take away votes from the left.

Left leader Schirdewan said in ARD morning magazine, it is now about “strengthening” the left and “minimizing” the consequences of the Wagenknecht project for the left. WAgenknecht was behaving “selfishly,” said Schirdewan. He considers the fact that Wagenknecht and others apparently want to leave the Bundestag faction to be “fatal” and “irresponsible”.

Co-chairwoman Wissler said that the party would not be dissolved. “It may be that we lose our faction status [im Bundestag] lose. That is unfortunate. I didn’t want that, but Sahra Wagenknecht and the people who are founding a new party are solely responsible for that.”

And what would it mean for the other parties?

According to a new survey by the Insa Institute for “Bild am Sonntag”, 27 percent of people in Germany could imagine voting for a Wagenknecht party. Whether it really exploits its potential depends on the actual program and whether the party can really establish itself and organize itself nationwide. The competition with the AfD, which Wagenknecht also formulated, is clear. This represents similar positions on migration or when criticizing Russia sanctions. The goals differ in social, tax and European policy.

The parliamentary director of the SPD in the Bundestag, Katja Mast, was concerned about the division in the left. “Our society does not need further polarization and division,” Mast told the dpa news agency. “In these times it’s about bringing our society together,” said Mast: “Sahra Wagenknecht is not in a position to do that – she is even splitting her own previous party. Regardless of the losses.” SPD leader Lars Klingbeil had expressed his willingness to accept, under certain conditions, members of the Left who wanted to turn their backs on their party.

Source: dpa