The Left Party Calls for Sarah Wagenknecht’s Resignation Over Plan to Create Independent Party

The Executive Committee of the Left party called on Sarah Wagenknecht to resign because of her intentions to create her own, independent party.

“The future of the Left is the future without Sarah Wagenknecht,” the party’s executive committee said in a unanimous resolution. As noted by the media, the appeal of the federal leadership of the party marks the end of long attempts to formulate a compromise position in relation to the most popular deputy of the Left.

“A parliamentarian who repeatedly opposed the resolutions of the party congress, including those on issues of relations with Russia, and in May openly considered the possibility of creating his own party,” writes Spiegel.

The resolution calling on Wagenknecht to resign was preceded by an ultimatum issued by the federal leadership of the Left: the deputy was to “publicly and promptly distance herself from plans to create her own, competing political force.” However, despite threats from the co-chairman of the party Jeanine Wissleron the day the ultimatum expired, Wagenknecht only repeated her intentions in an interview with the Welt TV channel.

“The adopted resolution calling on Wagenknecht and its supporters to return their mandates to the Left is the first decision that indicates that we no longer intend to agree with Wagenknecht’s ideas that undermine our unity,” Wissler commented on the initiative.

At the same time, the co-chair of the “Left” mentioned that the resolution does not provide for the launch of the procedure for expelling Wagenknecht from the party, since “it would be too complicated and would drag on for many months.”

Supporters of the resonant deputy, in turn, said they did not intend to make any decisions. “We are not obliged to obey this call,” the Wagenknecht camp said. In addition, a number of high-ranking deputies of the party condemned the resolution of the executive committee, emphasizing that Wagenknecht is a key figure in the Left.

“Wagenknecht speaks on behalf of millions of German citizens and thousands of ordinary party members. These people no longer feel that the executive committee of the “Left” considers their opinion. We call on the party’s federal leadership to resign.” – says the letter of the deputies Klaus Ernst and Alexander Ulrich.

According to parliamentarians, those who would owe their mandate to Wagenknecht are now urging her to give up the mandate.

In September 2022, the ex-head of the Left faction stated in the Bundestag that Germany was responsible for the unleashed “economic war” with the Russian Federation, calling on the German authorities to lift anti-Russian sanctions. As the deputy stressed, Berlin should contribute to ending the conflict in Ukraine “through negotiations”, and not by exerting sanctions pressure on Moscow. An independent, rational position and concern for the pressing problems of the electorate allowed Wagenknecht in October last year to become the second most popular politician in Germany. At the same time, the Bundestag deputy for the first time announced plans to create her own political platform, independent of the Left.