German hard-left icon set to start a new populist
party
The new party would further scramble Germany’s
fracturing political landscape — and likely peel away support from the far
right.
BY HANS VON
DER BURCHARD
OCTOBER 24,
2023 4:00 AM CET
A popular
icon of hard-left politics in Germany announced her intention to start a new
political party, potentially creating a potent new anti-establishment force that
could further upend the country’s already fragmented politics.
Sahra
Wagenknecht, the longtime face of The Left, which has roots in East Germany’s
Communist Party, says her new faction will represent the large swath of the
German electorate that is deeply frustrated with mainstream politics.
“We live in
a time of global political crises,” she said in Berlin. “And in this of all
times, Germany probably has the worst government in its history … Many no
longer know who to vote for, or they vote out of anger and despair.”
Wagenknecht,
a frequent guest on German television talk shows, consistently ranks among the
country’s most popular politicians. Polls suggest her party, once established,
could become a significant political force: One survey published on Monday put
a Wagenknecht party at 12 percent nationally, just behind the Greens.
A
Wagenknecht party could also achieve something no mainstream party has ever
managed — peeling away support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD),
which has been ascendant in polls of late, reaching 22 percent support.
Her critics
say she could do this because she is parroting AfD policies: While maintaining
a traditional leftist stance on an expansive welfare state, for example,
Wagenknecht has drifted right on a number of social issues, creating some
ideological crossover.
Like the
AfD, she accuses the German government of catering to urban elites and ignoring
the concerns of rural voters. She also rails against the ruling coalition’s
attempts to hasten the green energy transition — or, as she called it today,
“blind, unplanned eco-activism” — by pushing through new rules on how Germans
heat their homes.
At the same
time, Wagenknecht has also called for curbs on asylum seekers entering the
country, and has railed against the German government’s support for Ukraine,
demanding a halt to weapons shipments and the renewal of close relations with
Moscow.
“We have
cut ourselves off from cheap [Russian] energy with economic sanctions, with no
viable alternatives,” Wagenknecht said at her announcement. This, she added,
has prompted an “exodus of important industries and a massive loss of
prosperity.”
Her
positions have drawn admiration from AfD members and even an invitation to join
the party.
“I implore
you, come and join us!” said Björn Höcke, one of the AfD’s most extreme
politicians, during a speech in Dresden earlier this year.
Wagenknecht
today ruled out any potential cooperation with the AfD. She and her supporters
say the rise of the AfD is one reason they are moving to start their own party
as a more palatable alternative to established forces.
“We are
launching a party so that all the people who are thinking about voting for the
AfD, or have already done so out of anger and despair — not because they are
far-right — now have a serious place to turn,” Wagenknecht said.
The German
politician intends to have her new party up and running by early next year with
the intention of competing in European elections next June as well as in
September 2024 German state elections in Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony —
all AfD strongholds where the far-right party currently leads in polls.
Wagenknecht’s
plan to start a new party is also a severe blow for The Left, which will now
lose 10 of its 38 lawmakers in Germany’s Bundestag parliament.
The move
may also further splinter Germany’s political landscape, which for most of the
post-World War II era was dominated by large Volksparteien (people’s parties) —
with a center-right alliance between the Christian Democratic Union and the
Christian Social Union on one side, and the center-left Social Democratic Party
on the other. Those parties have seen their support and influence wane.
That’s
where Wagenknecht sees an opportunity.
“We want to
have a broad base, and I think it’s good when people who voted for the [current
ruling coalition], for example, and who are now deeply disappointed, put their
faith in our project and want to support us,” Wagenknecht said.
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