Election campaign - Ramelow: Don't give the AfD any potential for blackmail
Links' Top Candidate and Minister-President Bodo Ramelow aims to prevent the anticipated dominance of the AfD in the Thuringia State Elections. "I want to contribute to ensuring that the AfD is not given the opportunity to blackmail the parliament," Ramelow stated during the campaign kick-off of the Left.
He hopes that the democratic forces will perform strongly in the state elections and "Thuringia is not blue, the AfD does not have the last word." Therefore, he does not fight against other democratic parties, including The Left-led Alliance (BSW), which has a number of former members in Thuringia.
Currently, the Left, as a ruling party, ranks fourth in polls behind the AfD, CDU, and BSW. The AfD has announced that they will overtake the other parties if they receive a third of the votes and could block many decisions in the state parliament.
"Really looking forward to the campaign"
Ramelow has been Minister-President in Thuringia since 2014, with a brief interruption, and is the only Left-wing politician to have headed a state government. Despite the current low polling values of the Left at 11%, the 68-year-old intends to defend the Chancellery. He wants to be "my own successor in the Chancellery," he said.
The difference between 11% and the 31% the Left received in the 2019 Thuringia State Elections is evident to Ramelow. However, he has never "thrown in the towel." The evening of September 1st will decide. He had to fight against a weak trend of the Left in the federal elections five years ago. He is glad that voters now have their say. Ramelow: "I'm really looking forward to the campaign."
No Bodo Ramelow Alliance
On large-format election posters of the Left featuring an image of Ramelow, the words "Christ, Socialist, Minister-President" are displayed. He is grateful to his party for carrying the seemingly paradoxical word pair "Christ and Socialist," Ramelow said. It represents his convictions, and he is both, a Christian and a Socialist. He also knows that some Left members are uneasy about the Christian faith. He will not "transform the Left into a Bodo Ramelow Alliance." In contrast to the earlier Left led by Sahra Wagenknecht, he has never been a member of the SED.
In the state election campaign, the Left focuses on justice, stability, reliability, but also readiness for change. Goals include tuition-free education from kindergarten to Master's degree, a 29-Euro ticket for young people in Thuringia, and more democratic participation opportunities for citizens, but also peace policy, said the state chairman Christian Schaft.
- Bodo Ramelow, the Left's top candidate and current Minister-President of Thuringia, expressed concern about the potential dominance of the AfD in the upcoming state elections.
- Ramelow emphasized that he doesn't aim to undermine other democratic parties, including the Left-led Alliance (BSW), which has former members in Thuringia.
- The CDU and the BSW currently rank higher in polls than the Left, which has been experiencing a downturn in popularity with 11% support.
- However, Ramelow has declared his intention to defend the Chancellery, even if the Left lags behind, and expressed his excitement for the upcoming election campaign.
- On his election posters, Ramelow is represented as "Christ, Socialist, Minister-President," and he expressed gratitude for his party's embrace of his paradoxical word pair.
- Despite the internal disagreements about Christian faith among some Left members, Ramelow stated that he has no intention of transforming the Left into a "Bodo Ramelow Alliance," differentiating himself from the Left led by Sahra Wagenknecht.
