Left party experiences large influx after Wagenknecht's departure
Polls do not show any positive trend for the Left Party following the departure of Sahra Wagenknecht and her followers. The situation is quite different when it comes to membership figures. The Karl Liebknecht House is pleased to welcome many new members.
Since Sahra Wagenknecht and other members of the Bundestag left the party, the Left Party has gained significantly more members than it has lost. This is shown by an initial evaluation by the Karl Liebknecht House, which is available to the Funke Mediengruppe newspapers. According to this, there were 1567 new members in the four weeks between Wagenknecht leaving the party and this Tuesday. This compares to 838 resignations in the same period.
However, according to the party, this figure has not yet been adjusted for terminations of party membership due to payment defaults, for example. According to the party, the adjusted number of resignations is probably somewhat lower. A complete analysis of membership development since Wagenknecht's departure is not expected until the fourth quarterly report at the beginning of 2024.
In Berlin alone, 269 people joined the Left Party in one fell swoop last Monday, state managing director Sebastian Koch said according to RBB. "In the last four weeks, more than 500 people have joined the Berlin Left Party," the state association wrote on Platform X. It is now said to have over 7,000 members again.
Joining because of "clarification of content"?
The RTL/ntv trend barometer, on the other hand, shows no positive trend for the party nationwide: Only three percent of Germans would still vote for the Left Party without Wagenknecht.
However, the party leadership sees the new party members as a positive signal. "The clarification of content and the message of renewal is the reason for many people to join or rejoin the Left Party," says co-leader Janine Wissler. "That makes us happy and gives us hope." There is room in the party for everyone who wants to do something for social justice and against the shift to the right.
Wagenknecht announced at the end of October that she wanted to found a new party in January. Together with nine other MPs, she declared her resignation from the Left Party. The new party is to emerge from the already founded association "Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht" (BSW).
The departure of Sahra Wagenknecht and her followers from The Left Party has led to an influx of new members, with the Karl Liebknecht House reporting 1567 new members in the four weeks following her departure.Despite the positive trend in membership figures, polls like the RTL/ntv trend barometer show no positive trend for The Left Party nationwide, with only 3% of Germans indicating they would still vote for the party without Wagenknecht.
Source: www.ntv.de
