Speculations about exit: How Wagenknecht does not let go of the left


analysis

Status: 03/21/2023 12:35 p.m

Does she stay, does she leave and if so, when? The public conflict between Sahra Wagenknecht and her left increasingly resembles a War of the Roses. Anger is growing among the party leadership.

By Mario Kubina, ARD Capital Studio

Martin Schirdewan is considered a man of balance and soft tones in Berlin. But at this press conference in the Karl-Liebknecht-Haus, the party headquarters of the left, he blurted out: he was “pissed off” because of the ongoing speculation about a split from the party, says the co-leader of the left. He calls the most recent interview by Sahra Wagenknecht on the subject “irresponsible”, “damaging the party” and “disrespectful towards the many thousands of local members who work for the left every day”.

Efforts that, from Schirdewan’s point of view, the behavior of the prominent member of the Bundestag undermines. “This must be ended immediately.” He calls on Wagenknecht to “now clearly distance himself from your idea of ​​founding a competing party” or to draw the appropriate conclusions – in other words: to turn your back on the left of your own accord.

Schirdewan knows, of course, that such demands have so far not impressed Wagenknecht. That’s why he adds this sentence: It’s not acceptable that the resources of the party and parliamentary group are used for plans to found a competing party. Such an approach is “incompatible with exercising a mandate for the party. And the party cannot and will not allow that,” said Schirdewan.

High hurdles for party exclusion

One of his predecessors is even clearer. Bernd Riexinger is demanding that the party be expelled if Wagenknecht’s latest announcements are followed by concrete steps towards founding a new party. He writes on Twitter that Wagenknecht should then “no longer have a place in the party and parliamentary group”.

However, the hurdles for a party expulsion are high. According to the federal statutes of the left, such a step requires that the member concerned “willfully violates the statutes or significantly violates the principles or regulations of the party and thus causes it serious damage”. The decision on this lies with an arbitration committee.

The case of Gerhard Schröder, for example, shows how difficult it is to substantiate the allegation of behavior damaging to the party. The former chancellor is opposed to being thrown out of the SPD because of his close ties to Russia – so far with success. Unlike Wagenknecht, however, Schröder never flirted with founding a new party that would compete with his previous one.

Still months of uncertainty?

In this respect, with her most recent interview on a possible re-establishment, Wagenknecht provided her opponents within the party in the Karl Liebknecht House with arguments. At the beginning of the month, she answered the question of a new party in an interview with the newspaper “Rheinpfalz” rather evasively: “It is discussed in many places.”

But at the weekend a ZDFinterview, in which she speaks openly about her plans – and for the first time gives a timetable: “I assume that within the next three quarters of a year – a year at the most – the decision […] will fall.” However, that could mean that the dispute between Wagenknecht and large parts of her party will drag on for months. The MP has long since made it clear that she will no longer be a candidate for the left in the next federal election.

Wagenknecht wants to play it safe

Wagenknecht justifies her hesitation by saying that founding a party depends on certain requirements – such as functioning structures and a “reliable team” that organizes the development. “The expectation that one could, even if one had made a decision, launch such a party, […] that would be doomed.”

And failure – Wagenknecht leaves no doubt about that – she doesn’t want to fail this time. Unlike a few years ago, when she tried to initiate a new left-wing rally under the heading “Get Up.” The project, which started in 2018, never really got off the ground. That’s why she’s playing it safe this year, with the possibility of failure in mind: “I don’t want to end my political career with a flop.”

“I don’t want to end my political career with a flop”: Wagenknecht’s “Get Up” movement in 2018 failed.

Faction status of the left at risk

It is not yet clear whether Wagenknecht’s recent statements in favor of founding a new party will turn the mood in the party against her. The relationship with the party leadership is already in tatters, and Wagenknecht no longer has much support at official level either. But large sections of the party base still stand by her. And its media appeal is unbroken.

If Wagenknecht leaves the party after it has been re-established, it could have consequences for the Left Party in the Bundestag: If only three other MPs went, the status of the parliamentary group would be lost. Then the left in parliament could only act as a group – with less money and resources. The party cleared the five percent hurdle in the last election, but won three direct mandates. Only the so-called basic mandate clause – previously still part of the electoral law – secured her entry in parliamentary group strength, with 39 mandates.

The existence of the parliamentary group is a great asset, Wagenknecht emphasized in an interview last weekend. “It would be irresponsible to endanger you without need,” she said, with a view to the question of why she had not yet left despite all the differences.

Between the lines, this can be understood as a warning: to all those who think that a final rift could come to the party for free. The dispute between Wagenknecht and her party is increasingly reminiscent of a War of the Roses. Exit: open.

Left tip “pissed off” at Wagenknecht

Mario Kubina, ARD Berlin, March 20, 2023 7:56 p.m

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