Leading figures on the left are resisting the split in the party and its parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Party leader Janine Wissler supports the idea of a short-term party convention. Group leader Dietmar Bartsch warned party friends in the Bundestag against endangering the group’s continued existence by leaving the group.
The background is the dispute over the direction of MP Sahra Wagenknecht. She has fallen out with the party leadership around Wissler and Martin Schirdewan and is considering founding her own party. The party executive therefore broke with Wagenknecht in June. This is one of the reasons why co-group leader Amira Mohamed Ali wants to give up her office. How things will continue in the party and parliamentary group is open.
The left-east commissioner Sören Pellmann made the proposal of the party convention. “There will only be a common future with the left if we can do it together,” said the Leipzig MP to MDR. “There is my appeal to the party executive and the parliamentary group to get together and come together for a party convention before the new parliamentary group executive committee is elected and before the federal party conference, which takes place in the fall.”
Wissler welcomed the idea. “Bringing those responsible from the states, from the federal level and the parliamentary group together promptly – if necessary online due to the holiday season – and if possible before the parliamentary group retreat, is a sensible suggestion that we will discuss,” explained Wissler. The parliamentary group’s retreat is scheduled for August 30th and 31st, before a new parliamentary group leader is to be elected on September 4th. The party conference for the European elections in Augsburg is to follow in mid-November.
Three resignations mean the end of the group
Wagenknecht has supporters in the parliamentary group who would probably leave the left with her if the party was founded. Co-group leader Bartsch warned in daily mirror: “There is concern that the existence of the parliamentary group will be ended by resignations.” If three MPs left the group, it would have to be liquidated. “That would be irresponsible,” said Bartsch.
The left has only 39 MPs since the 2021 federal election. According to the Bundestag, a parliamentary group needs a minimum size of 37 MPs. Only parliamentary groups have far-reaching rights, such as introducing bills or motions and making large or small inquiries. There are grants to finance their structures.
Pellmann, who won one of three direct mandates for the left in 2021, wants to avert the split. “That would be the best option: we’ll do it together, Sahra Wagenknecht and all parts of the party,” said Pellmann. The party executive should revise its decision against Wagenknecht. He suggested making Wagenknecht the top candidate in the 2024 European elections. Wissler and Schirdewan, on the other hand, want refugee and climate activist Carola Rackete as their top candidate.
In an interview with the SZ, Mohamed Ali spoke in detail about her withdrawal from the leadership of the parliamentary group and the background to it. She did not rule out leaving the Left Party and joining a Wagenknecht party, should one actually be founded. “The decision to leave a party has to be considered very carefully. You don’t just do it like that. I also have a lot in common with the left and that’s also a piece of identity,” she said.
She accused party leaders Wissler and Schirdewan of not doing anything to prevent Sahra Wagenknecht from being bullied on the left. “The way Sahra is treated, how she is insulted by her own comrades, that’s partly really blatant,” she said. If Wagenknecht should actually leave the faction, then she thinks it is “very likely” that enough members will go along – and the faction status will be lost.