Now it’s official: Sahra Wagenknecht is setting up her own party

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Politician Sahra Wagenknecht leaves the German left and sets up her own party. “We have decided to establish a new party because we are convinced that things cannot continue as they are now,” Wagenknecht said in Berlin on Monday. “Otherwise we will probably no longer recognize our country in ten years.” The party is expected to be founded in early 2024 and stand as a candidate in the European elections in June 2024.

Until it is established, Wagenknecht and her colleagues with a mandate in the left-wing group want to remain in the German parliament, they have made it clear. Wagenknecht also justified this with attention to the employees in the group and an ‘orderly transition’. The 54-year-old added that the left-wing parliamentary group will no longer be able to exist from January at the latest.

The group has only 38 members. If more than two of them quit or are expelled, they lose their faction status and can only continue as a group. However, the left-wing leadership has called on Wagenknecht and her supporters to hand over their mandate.

Fundraising begins

Wagenknecht had been considering founding the party for months. A few weeks ago, its supporters registered the association “Alliantie Sahra Wagenknecht – For Reason and Justice”. This should now prepare the formation of the party and collect donations. The chairman is the former leader of the left party, Amira Mohamed Ali. The director is the former director of the Left in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lukas Schön, treasurer of the millionaire Ralph Suikat.

The association “Alliantie Sahra Wagenknecht – For Reason and Justice” was founded to prepare a new party,” it said in a written statement. In Germany, people have been ruling for years “without circumventing the wishes of the majority.” Instead of rewarding performance, money is redistributed from the hardworking to the top ten thousand. Lobbying requests would be answered and the public coffers would be emptied. People complain about an ‘authoritarian political style’. Industry and small businesses are at stake.

Criticism of the traffic light coalition

“Many people have lost confidence in the state and no longer feel represented by any of the existing parties,” the statement continued. Wagenknecht again sharply criticized the traffic light coalition, which governed Germany poorly.

According to an Insa survey for “Bild am Sonntag,” 27 percent of respondents in Germany could imagine voting for a Wagenknecht party. However, election surveys are generally subject to uncertainty. The left-wing party leadership wants to take action against Wagenknecht’s colleagues. A party exclusion procedure will be initiated against those involved in the BSW association.

The left emerged from the former GDR state party SED, whose successors merged with West German leftists in 2007 to form a new party. It still has its strongholds in East Germany and is Prime Minister in Thuringia.

Wagenknecht is criticized

It is not only Wagenknecht who is leaving the party. Left-wing faction leader Dietmar Bartsch criticized the dismissal of her and nine other MPs from the party as “irresponsible and unacceptable”. Bartsch confirmed on Monday that the ten affected MPs had applied to remain in the left-wing group despite leaving the party. “Our group will decide on this confidently and calmly,” Bartsch announced.

In his statement, party leader Bartsch sharply criticized Wagenknecht’s statement on the Gaza Strip: in her press conference she described it as an ‘open-air prison’. Bartsch explained: “I am distancing myself in the strongest possible terms.” “It’s about attitude, especially in these times.” (SDA)

Source: Blick