EU voting outcome: - Sahra Wagenkentcht's alliance experiences momentum for upcoming state elections.
A new political party called the Alliance for Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) is optimistic about making it into the state parliament after the recent European elections. "I'm pretty sure we'll make it into the state parliament - comfortably," the state chairman Robert Crumbach told the German Press Agency in Potsdam. He praised the party's performance in Brandenburg, where they received 13.8% of the votes, compared to the SPD's 13.1%, as "absolutely amazing."
During the Euro elections, the BSW didn't run under its own name in every area, but rather with various alliances. Despite this, Crumbach was satisfied, although the average share of votes was significantly less than in the Euro elections. He sees this as a great result for the alliances that started from scratch.
To participate in the state election on September 22nd, the BSW faces a few remaining challenges: A state party congress will need to be held to create the state list and approve a party program, which then must be submitted to the state election committee. They'll also need to gather 2,000 signatures to be approved as a candidate. "That's a big task," said Crumbach, but he remains hopeful that they'll be able to reach this goal.
The BSW was established at the federal level by former leftist politician Sahra Wagenknecht in January, and the state branch was founded in May. As a party, they want to provide voters with an alternative to the traffic light parties and the CDU and AfD at the state election.
According to a study by Potsdam political scientist Jan Philipp Thomeczek, the BSW can be seen as a populist party. Wagenknecht, who was known for her populist tendencies as a left-wing parliament member, appears to have brought this same characteristic to the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht. Thomeczek conducted an analysis of the speeches and statements of the Left faction in the Bundestag as well as the BSW party program to reach this conclusion.
