Sahra Wagenknecht is already thinking about the chancellorship
At the European elections, The Left Alliance (Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht) achieved its first success. In the coming months, state elections are scheduled in three eastern German federal states - and the party chairwoman intends to participate.
She gives herself a self-confident image. And she has every reason for it after the respectable showing of her party at the European elections. Now, Sahra Wagenknecht wants to shape politics in Germany, first on a state level, and then on a federal level.
No, Wagenknecht does not want to be the candidate for chancellor for The Left Alliance. Not yet. This should only be considered when a double-digit election result can be achieved, she said Thursday evening on Markus Lanz in ZDF. But of course: Anyone who enters politics wants to shape it, and Wagenknecht's ambitions left no doubt. However, she intends to start small, in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg. A coalition is conceivable for Wagenknecht, even with the CDU. But it must move. Wagenknecht wants to make politics for the citizens. A "carry on as before" is not an option for her.
In the east, she senses a turning point, roughly similar to what happened in the GDR in 1989. Back then, the ruling politicians had lost touch with the people. The events left her unaffected. Wagenknecht wanted to change something, she said. That's why she joined the SED in the summer of 1989. She witnessed its transformation into the PDS and then the Linkspartei. But in the last year, she had had enough, left the Left and founded her own alliance. She now runs it according to her own principles.
"We grow slowly"
She wants to implement her politics. And the BSW members should do the same. That's why she fits in perfectly. Everyone is carefully vetted before they can join her party. That's why The Left grows more slowly than a squirrel fattening itself. She now counts almost 700 members. "We grow slowly, so we don't catch the childhood diseases of other parties." In their founding years, there was often chaos, fights, and disruptive disputes among them. "And it's often the case that they disintegrate or go in a direction where the founders no longer recognize them." That was the case with the AfD. And the mistakes of the AfD founders around Bernd Lucke, she does not want to make. That would be unwise. Lucke left the AfD two years after its founding, as did almost all of its founders. They then founded their own party and disappeared into political insignificance. This future she does not see for herself. She is, after all, a woman who cannot deny herself a certain ego.
In her party, it goes relatively peacefully, Wagenknecht reports. But: "We have had things here and there where it rattles, among our 700." But The Left has a goal: "to give people a voice." Most members want what the party wants. And the party - that is mainly Sahra Wagenknecht.
Thousands of supporters of The Left [
(Note: The text seems to be missing the end or part of it, as there is no clear connection between the last sentence and the rest of the text.)
For running in the state elections, naturally willing personnel is required. And that is available. After all, there are 25,000 supporters who have registered on the BSW website, Wagenknecht proudly states. These will now be gradually screened in conversations. Wagenknecht is in favor of choosing a specific program and wants people who run for office and carry our party to stand for the same things she does.
What she stands for can be read in the party program, which is four pages thick. But there are also election programs. They are even thicker, Wagenknecht says. And a real party program is now being worked on by an expert commission. It should be ready next year.
Wagenknecht has principles. Her views have changed significantly since she entered politics. In the 1990s, she had ideas that she no longer stands behind, she says. Today, she wants a little more of this and a little less of that. "Someone who is fundamentally against expulsion is a problem," she says in migration policy. However, she wants to take a hard line in migration policy: She wants to better control migration, take in fewer people, and is in favor of the third country solution. She also wants more social justice. Recently, her group introduced a bill in the Bundestag. In it, she demanded an increase in the minimum wage to 14 euros. The bill was rejected - by all MPs of the other parties, Wagenknecht says.
She also wants to end the Ukrainian war as quickly as possible. The Russian army's invasion of Ukraine was a violation of international law, Wagenknecht repeatedly states, and it often seems that her interviewers don't believe her that she really thinks that. The war should be ended as soon as possible. There is now a peace negotiation offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Wagenknecht says. Putin wants Russia to be given Crimea and the oblasts in eastern Ukraine that the Russian army has not yet fully taken. Ukraine must capitulate and should not become a NATO member. These are the basic conditions for the start of peace negotiations, according to Putin.
The West should respond to this offer together with Ukraine, demands Wagenknecht. One should formulate a counterproposal, for example, the stop of western weapons deliveries, if there is an immediate ceasefire at the frontline, but without conditions. A similar proposal was previously made by Brazil and other countries. "We have never suggested this to Putin. Russia has annexed these territories. Putin cannot return them on his own accord, that would be perceived as a weakness. We also need to make an offer. Then the Russians will take it or not. And if they don't, we need to discuss it with China or other countries."
Wagenknecht's idea finds much approval from Lanz and his guests not. But perhaps she has provided a first basis for ending the war at the negotiating table with her proposal. We'll have to wait and see.
Sahra Wagenknecht discussed her ambitions in politics during her appearance on Markus Lanz's show, stating that she aims to shape politics at both the state and federal levels with The Left Alliance (BSW). Despite not yet considering herself as a potential candidate for chancellor, Wagenknecht intends to start her efforts in the eastern German states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg.
In the upcoming state elections, Wagenknecht has a substantial number of supporters willing to help her party, as she reported having 25,000 registered supporters on the BSW website. These dedicated individuals will now undergo thorough vetting before being considered for political roles within her party.
