parties
Wagenknecht’s party wants to score points in elections in East Germany
Sahra Wagenknecht has a lot of hope for the elections in East Germany this fall. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
The new party led by Sahra Wagenknecht introduced itself on Monday. The first elections are coming up in the fall. The alliance could potentially offer an alternative to more than just homeless voters.
According to recent surveys, in the elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, the AfD could become the strongest party, sometimes by a significant margin, and receive more than 30 percent of the vote. The way the AfD is positioned today, it sees no similarities in terms of content, said Wagenknecht later on the sidelines of the event when asked whether the BSW would govern together with the AfD. Especially in the East, the AfD has a strong right-wing extremist wing with which cooperation is not possible.
The 54-year-old Wagenknecht said she had received “a lot of nice reactions” since she founded the party. Many people approach her on the street. “I notice that there is a lot of hope that people have in the new party.”
Wagenknecht hopes to win over AfD voters who are neither right-wing nor right-wing radical, but who have become “angry, disappointed and politically homeless.” SPD voters should also get a “political address” again in the BSW.
The BSW formed as a party on Monday. Bundestag member Wagenknecht was elected chairwoman in a dual leadership with the former leader of the left-wing faction, Amira Mohamed Ali.