As of: 06/25/2022 3:58 p.m
Janine Wissler remains federal chairwoman of the Left Party. The 41-year-old, who was controversial because of a series of election defeats and internal party quarrels, received 57 percent of the votes at the federal party conference in Erfurt.
The old one is also the new party leader: Janine Wissler was re-elected as leader at the Federal Party Congress of the Left in Erfurt. Wissler was controversial after a series of defeats in federal and state elections as well as internal trench warfare. However, in the first ballot, she prevailed against two other candidates for the place in the dual leadership that was intended for women. She received around 57.5 percent of the votes.
Wissler convinces delegates
With a combative speech at the beginning of the party conference, in which she acknowledged mistakes and campaigned for a renewal of the party, she was apparently able to convince many delegates. Wissler has only been at the top of the left since February 2021. Her co-chair Susanne Hennig-Wellsow resigned in April.
For the second post at the top of the party, several candidates appear at the party congress. The most promising candidates are Sören Pellmann, a member of the Bundestag, and Martin Schirdewan, a European politician. In addition to the management duo, the entire board, which has been reduced, is to be re-elected. There are around 100 candidates for the entire board who can present themselves at the party congress, and there were ten candidates for the party chairmanship alone. The personnel changes are intended to help the left regain its footing.
intra-party dispute
Former parliamentary group leader Gregor Gysi demanded a restart at the party conference so that the left would not slip into insignificance 15 years after it was founded by the PDS and WASG. The crisis also resulted from the fact that it was no longer clear what was the majority and what was the minority opinion on the left. He spoke of denunciations by party members among themselves. “This is unbearable.” The 74-year-old appealed to the delegates: “Stop all the small-minded crap in our party.” The left has a place in society that cannot be replaced by any other party.