The Party of the Left (Die Linke) was undoubtedly favored in the parliamentary elections of 2021. Although it did not manage to exceed the 5% threshold for entering the Federal Parliament, it benefited from a peculiarity of the electoral law, which imposes an exception to the 5% limit, in case at least three MPs of a political party are elected by “direct mandate” (Direktmandat) from the voters.

All this is due to one more peculiarity of the electoral system in Germany: Half of the seats are allocated to MPs who win by “direct mandate” of the voters in the 299 constituencies, i.e. with a cross of preference, while the other half to MPs who are elected by list.

However, after 2021 luck seems to have abandoned Linke. In the 2024 European elections it recorded significant losses, while the disappointing results continued in recent months in the local elections of Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg. “It was a bitter night,” party co-chairman Martin Sirdevan admitted after the Brandenburg polls on September 22, where Linke won just 3% of the vote and was left out of parliament.

First “failure” in East Germany

For the first time, the once ruling opposition party failed to enter the local Parliament of an East German state. The Left Party has its roots in the former East Germany, as its historical starting point was the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which monopolized power in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) before the fall of the Wall.

After Reunification, the left-wing party very quickly managed to establish itself as a widely accepted political force in the eastern states of Germany, initially under the name “Party of Democratic Socialism” (PDS). In the past it has achieved rates of up to 30% in local elections. But how to explain the historic failure of Brandenburg and the impressive decline in voter preferences? The members of the party are trying to answer this question at the Linke conference which is being held these days, until Sunday, in the city of Halle in the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Already on Saturday, Linke elected a new leadership, as the leading duo of Martin Sirdevan and Jeanine Wisler are leaving.

“We gave room to the AfD”

The retreat of the party is particularly unpleasant for Gregor Guzi, a charismatic personality of the German Left who had kept the party standing during difficult days, especially during the PDS era. He recently told the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel that, in its attempt to establish itself in the western states of Germany, the Linke had neglected its roots. Result: “We gave room to the AfD” estimates Gizi. Because, while in the past the Left Party was above all the voice of the economically weak, today this role is claimed, partially successfully, by the far-right party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD).

Intra-party squabbles over the future of the Linke had caused the parliamentary group to dissolve in October 2023. Since then, a significant portion of the cadres have followed former party leader Sarah Wagenknecht, founding a new political body bearing her name: “Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance » (BSW). In terms of economic and social policy, the new party advocates the traditional left-wing programmatic positions, but on the question of immigration it seems to approach those of the AfD.

Today Guzi claims that “Wagenknecht tried to break up the Left” and that in three electoral contests held in 2024 in eastern Germany “she has achieved double-digit percentages at the expense of the Left”. However, he does not fail to strongly criticize the Linke as well, warning that “we are leading to the burial of the party” if something important does not change at the Halle conference. “Already at our previous conference we experienced an existential crisis” points out the veteran politician. “And what happened in the end?” For a whole day we discussed the issue of sexual identity.”

A new beginning in leadership

Now Linke is attempting a “reboot” with a new leading duo, somehow combining long experience with youthful enthusiasm. They are 63-year-old Jan van Aken, who was a member of the party’s parliament in the period 2009-2017, and 35-year-old journalist Ines Swerdner, who just joined Linke last year. “We have hit rock bottom, so in my opinion the conditions are ideal, because things can only get better from here on out,” says Schwerdner herself in the Weserkurier newspaper.

Of course it won’t be easy. According to a recent survey by the political foundation Rosa Luxemburg, which is close to the Left Party, since 2009 the party’s appeal to its traditional voter groups, such as industrial and service sector workers, has declined significantly. The breakaway of the “Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance” makes things even more difficult. However, Jan van Aken is optimistic. He compares Linke to St. Pauli’s football team in his hometown of Hamburg, which has fanatical fans across Germany but is considered an “elevator team” that bounces between the first and second division. “This year St. Pauli got promoted to the Bundesliga and that’s not because they have such great players, but because they all played team football,” says the new head of Linke meaningfully.

Edited by: Yiannis Papadimitriou