The left currently governs in four federal states, but is in an existential crisis. A restart should succeed. The basis trusts the old party chief most likely.
Second chance for Janine Wissler: The 41-year-old Hessin was re-elected as party leader at the federal party conference of the left in Erfurt, although she was controversial after a series of defeats in federal and state elections as well as internal trench warfare. Nevertheless, in the first round of voting, Wissler prevailed against two competitors for the place intended for women in the dual leadership. She received around 57.5 percent of the votes.
Wissler has only been at the top of the left since February 2021. Her co-chair, Susanne-Hennig Wellsow, resigned in April. For the second post at the top of the party, several candidates appear at the party congress. The most promising candidates are Sören Pellmann, a member of the Bundestag, and Martin Schirdewan, a European politician. In addition to the management duo, the entire board, which has been reduced, is to be re-elected. There were ten applicants for the party chairmanship alone. The personnel changes are intended to help the left regain its footing.
At the party conference, Gregor Gysi, the former leader of the Left parliamentary group, called for a new start so that the Left would not slip into insignificance 15 years after it was founded by the PDS and WASG. The crisis also resulted from the fact that it was no longer clear what was the majority and what was the minority opinion on the left. He spoke of denunciations by party members among themselves. “This is unbearable.”
“Stop all that petty crap in our party,” the 74-year-old appealed to the delegates. The left has a place in society that cannot be replaced by any other party. “The country needs democratic socialists.”
In Erfurt, the Left also wants to determine its highly controversial position on Russia and its war of aggression in Ukraine.
