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Sarah Wagenknecht
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Sarah Wagenknecht, one of Germany’s most prominent left-wing politicians, who recently left the far-left Left party, has been elected as the leader of her new political formation called the Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance – Reason and Justice, German news agency DPA and BTA
The Alliance (BSW) was officially incorporated as a party on Monday morning and immediately elected its first executive committee. The first party conference will take place on January 27.
Last October, Wagenknecht left the “Left” along with nine Bundestag deputies and announced his plans to found his own party.
The German left has disintegrated, they will become populists
It offers a combination of left-wing economic policies with high wages and pensions, as well as generous benefits and restrictions on migration. The new leader questions the plans of some environmentalists to fight climate change and opposes current sanctions against Russia, once Germany’s leading gas supplier, as well as German arms supplies to Ukraine.
The electoral potential of the new party remains unclear. There is widespread speculation that her positions could attract voters who would otherwise choose the far-right nationalist Alternative for Germany, especially in the country’s less prosperous, formerly communist eastern regions, the Associated Press noted.
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Wagenknecht herself said she would not be open to members who come directly from AfD – although she would be open to their constituents. Observers point to the proximity of the positions of the new far-left formation with those of the nationalists regarding migration and the war in Ukraine.
According to Wagenknecht, the new party will keep its current name until the next German general election, scheduled for autumn 2025, but will later choose another name that does not include her name. Wagenknecht and her long-time ally and former chair of the left-wing parliamentary group, Amira Mohamed Ali, are its joint leaders.
The first participation of the new formation will be in the elections for the European Parliament in June, where its leading candidate will be Thomas Geisel. The former mayor of Düsseldorf said the “Alliance” better expressed the values of the Social Democrats, which he supported as a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party until four weeks ago.
The latest polls in Germany show that the main conservative opposition forces garner the most support from voters with over 30% of the vote, followed by the Alternative for Germany with around 23%.
2024-01-08 20:11:31
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