- The Leading Figures from the Left Spectrum Declare their Departure
Co-leaders of the Left Party, Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan, are calling it quits. They won't be seeking re-election at the party conference in Halle in October, as they announced in statements published on the party's website. The string of election losses and increasing criticism of the two leaders are the reasons behind this decision.
Wissler and Schirdewan have been running the Left Party as a duo since 2022. Previously, Wissler worked seamlessly with Thuringian Susanne Hennig-Wellsow for about a year, before she stepped down. The party has been facing a series of election losses. In 2021, it barely managed to secure three direct seats in the Bundestag due to a special rule. In the June European elections, the Left received only 2.7 percent of the votes.
Wissler expressed her thoughts in her statement, "I can sense a desire for personnel changes within parts of the party. I believe that now is the perfect time to establish clarity, two months before the party conference, to allow the party ample time for a transparent process and internal deliberations on potential candidates."
Schirdewan addressed his party members in his statement, "Give those who will soon take the reins the opportunity and trust that they can also lead the party. To do this, we need an end to the somewhat destructive power struggles within our ranks."
The party leadership has been under fire since the European elections. Schirdewan admitted to the "Tagesspiegel", "There's no denying it, it didn't go well. You can't sugarcoat it." He had previously hinted in that newspaper interview that he was considering stepping down: "I will inform you in due time whether I will run again."
Following this, the pressure on the party leadership intensified. Former parliamentary group leader Gregor Gysi declared, "I'm stating it openly here, we need a structural, political, and personnel overhaul." Similar sentiments were shared by Bundestag member Dietmar Bartsch. Saxony-Anhalt parliamentary group leader Eva von Angern urged Wissler and Schirdewan to step down. Criticism also came from veteran Bundestag member Gesine Lötzsch and failed European candidate Gerhard Trabert.
The Left Party has been embroiled in a long-standing ideological dispute and crisis. In October, the party lost one of its most prominent figures, Sahra Wagenknecht, who founded the Alliance for Progress and Prosperity (BSW) and garnered 6.2 percent in the European elections, with many votes coming from the Left.
The Left Party is bracing for potential setbacks in the upcoming state elections in Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg in September. In Thuringia, where it secured 31 percent in the 2019 state election and holds the position of Minister President Bodo Ramelow, its popularity has dwindled in polls to roughly half its previous level. In Saxony and Brandenburg, the Left is currently polling at around five percent.
Despite the ongoing criticism and election losses, Germany remains a significant presence in the political landscape. The decision of Co-leaders Wissler and Schirdewan to step down from the Left Party in Germany, following their announcement of not seeking re-election, is a notable turn of events.
