European elections: Left Party conference concludes candidate selection
The Left Party concludes its three-day party conference in Augsburg today. The list of candidates for the European elections in June is to be finalized. Party leader Martin Schirdewan and refugee and climate activist Carola Rackete will head the list. They are running for the European Parliament in a team with trade unionist Özlem Demirel and the Mainz-based "doctor of the poor" Gerhard Trabert. All four received large majorities on Saturday evening.
The Left Party is trying to regain its footing after the break with former parliamentary group leader Sahra Wagenknecht. The party has recently had very weak election and poll results. Now it is facing new competition from the rival party planned by Wagenknecht. At the party conference, however, chairpersons Schirdewan and Janine Wissler tried to inspire confidence for a new start. They received the backing of the more than 400 delegates on important issues.
New demands
The European election program was adopted almost without dispute. The Left Party is focusing on its traditional issues: more public spending and fewer conditions through European debt rules, more taxes on high incomes and corporate profits, strict climate protection, an asylum policy with as few restrictions as possible and a strengthening of the European Parliament in the political EU structure.
The program sees a need for reform of the EU and speaks of the "anger of many people", but does not fundamentally question the community. Specifically, the Left Party has put forward a new demand: it is now calling for a minimum wage of 15 euros in Germany. Previously it was in favor of 14 euros. The current minimum wage is 12 euros.
20 candidates
The election to the European Parliament in Germany is scheduled for June 9, 2024. In 2019, the Left achieved 5.5% of the vote and five seats. This year, it intends to put forward 20 candidates. Schirdewan, Rackete, Demirel and Trabert were nominated by the party leadership and received broad support from the delegates. With 96.8 percent, Trabert, who has worked as a doctor for decades looking after the homeless and refugees, achieved the best result. Like Rackete, Trabert is not a party member.
Journalist Ines Schwerdtner was voted into fifth place late on Saturday evening, while Martin Günther, a left-wing candidate from Brandenburg, came sixth. The remaining places will be allocated today.
The Left Party's selected candidates, led by Martin Schirdewan and Carola Rackete, left the party conference with a united front, having secured large majorities. Despite facing competition from former party leader Sahra Wagenknecht's new party, Schirdewan and Wissler sought to inspire confidence for a fresh start. The program adopted at the conference emphasizes traditional issues such as increased public spending, stricter climate protection, and asylum policy with minimal restrictions, with a new demand being a minimum wage of 15 euros in Germany.
Source: www.dpa.com
