Left relieved after Karlsruhe ruling
The Left Party is relieved after the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling on the partial rerun of the Bundestag elections. "The ruling makes it clear that we will remain in the Bundestag and continue to perform our role as the social opposition," former parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch told the German Press Agency on Tuesday.
The Federal Constitutional Court had ruled that the 2021 Bundestag election in the state of Berlin would have to be partially repeated due to numerous glitches - but not across the board. Only 455 of around 2,200 constituencies are affected.
This partial rerun cannot change the outcome in the two constituencies in which the Left Party won direct mandates, said Bartsch. As a result, the directly elected MPs Gesine Lötzsch and Gregor Gysi as well as Leipzig MP Sören Pellmann will remain in the Bundestag. This in turn secures the seats of all 39 MPs who still belong to the Left Party today, as well as those who have since left, including the group around Sahra Wagenknecht.
If the election had been repeated in full, a different scenario would have emerged: One of the direct mandates could then have been lost and with it all the seats of the Left Party and the Wagenknecht group that were allocated via lists in 2021. The party has now been spared this. "This means a small but important hurdle has been overcome," said Bartsch. The next step is now the recognition of the 28 remaining Left Party MPs as a separate group.
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Source: www.ntv.de
