After more than 20 years - Member of the Bundestag Kati Engel leaves the Left Party
Just days before the September 1st state election, Left Party state MP Kati Engel has resigned from the party. A spokesperson for the state branch confirmed that Engel had declared her resignation via email. On Facebook, the 42-year-old from West Thuringia wrote that she had decided to take this step in connection with investigations into suspicions of possession of child pornographic material against another Left Party MP.
"Today, after over twenty years, I have declared my immediate resignation from the Left Party," Engel wrote in a post. "As a children's politician, I find it unacceptable how the party is handling accusations of child pornography within its own ranks," she criticized, among other things, that the suspected MP had not been asked to resign his current state parliament mandate.
The investigations were a shock for the party. Following the lifting of immunity, the state parliament office of the MP in question was searched on Tuesday. According to earlier statements by Left Party faction leader Steffen Dittes, the man had announced that he would suspend all his positions in the party and faction. This also applies to his activities in the state election campaign.
Many representatives of the Left had reacted shocked to the accusations. If the accusations are true, he expects severe consequences, Minister President Bodo Ramelow wrote on X. "It must be clarified quickly, comprehensively, and consistently." Dittes and the party leadership offered police and the public prosecutor's office any support.
Engel was the children and youth political spokesperson in the faction. The 42-year-old joined the predecessor party of the Left, the PDS, in 2003, and has been in the state parliament since 2014. She will not be running for the upcoming state election.
Engel announced that she would not participate in the upcoming state election due to her resignation. The search at the state parliament office of the suspected MP was conducted after Engel's revelation about the child pornography suspicions.
