2024-08-21 09:19:39
Election defeats and power struggles, the Left cannot get out of the crisis. Two weeks before the elections in the East, the party leaders announce their withdrawal and provide a self-critical analysis.
The Left Party leaders Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan have been self-critical after announcing their resignation. The debate with the political opponents and with the prevailing conditions has been neglected in some cases, said Wissler at a press conference in Berlin.
Wissler also cited the split from the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) alliance as a reason. “Because we have invested a lot of resources and a lot of energy and a lot of time in this dispute.” The split was long overdue. “And I think, with the knowledge we have today, it should have been done earlier,” said Wissler.
The 43-year-old stressed that the discord within her party had been a central problem in recent years. The fact that party members had publicly criticized the Left Party for no longer representing the social question had created a “disastrous image.” “So if you keep saying we are the party of solidarity, then you also have to show solidarity with one another internally,” said Wissler.
Co-chair Schirdewan also appealed for intra-party conflicts not to be aired publicly in the future. This also happened again after the split from the BSW. “There are always disturbing background noises,” said Schirdewan.
The two party leaders announced on Sunday that they would not run for the party leadership again at the next party conference in October. In the European elections in June, the Left Party received only 2.7 percent of the vote. After that, pressure on the party leadership grew. The withdrawal was nevertheless an autonomous decision, said Schirdewan. “I did not feel pressured,” he said.
The two outgoing party leaders justified their resignation two weeks before the state elections in the east. After the elections in Saxony and Thuringia, the state elections in Brandenburg are due to take place just three weeks later, said Wissler. In addition, the party leadership must give potential successors enough time to prepare. Wissler justified the fact that they did not announce their resignation immediately after the European elections with the budget dispute in the traffic light coalition and the question of whether new elections could be held.
Schirdewan announced that after his retirement from the party leadership, he would concentrate on his work as leader of the Left Party in the European Parliament. Wissler would like to continue as a member of the Bundestag for Hesse.