Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan will lead the Left Party as joint chairmen. Late in the afternoon, Schirdewan was elected party leader alongside Wissler, who was already in office, at the head of the left. The 46-year-old European politician from Berlin prevailed against several competitors at the federal party conference in Erfurt with an absolute majority of the votes.
The 41-year-old Janine Wissler had previously been re-elected. She was controversial because of a series of electoral flops and inter-party quarrels, but was able to prevail against two competitors for the place intended for women in the dual leadership of the Left Party in the first ballot. She received around 57.5 percent of the votes.
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, who comes from Hesse, has only been at the head of the left since February 2021. Her co-chair Susanne Hennig-Wellsow resigned in April.