The party of German left-wing populist Sahra Wagenknecht, which has previously been touted as cutting into the support of the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) due to Wagenknecht’s tougher views on immigration, may not run in any of the country’s state elections next year. And even if the party does, a new poll suggests its chances of taking voters from the surging AfD are slim.
The Bündnisses Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW), set to be officially formed in January of 2024, may not compete in the state elections in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg next September. A party official has cast doubts on the ability of the party to finance and campaign in the three states, the conservative German newspaper Junge Freiheit reports.
BSW chairwoman Amira Mohamed Ali, who seems set to co-lead the party with Wagenknecht, told the newspaper that the party’s first and primary focus will be on the May European Parliament elections, but that the party is still strained in terms of cash.
Currently, the BSW is only an association rather than a fully-fledged political party and has been raising money, collecting around €1.2 million in donations so far.
“With the money, we can finance the foundation, the first party congress, and the first structures. That’s not enough for the European election campaign,” Mohamed Ali stated.
In October, Wagenknecht announced her intentions to form her own party after she and nine other members of die Linke (the Left), the successor to the East German Communist Party, resigned from their positions but kept their seats in the German parliament.
This led the Linke faction within the Bundestag to dissolve completely in December, which cut off sources of funding and limited the rights of Linke party members.
Media has touted the BSW as an alternative to the AfD and proposed that the party may cut into the AfD vote, particularly in Eastern Germany where the AfD has become the most popular party in several regions. But Peter Matuschek, managing director of the polling institute Forsa, does not see that potential. “Our figures do not currently show that the BSW could contest a significant number of AfD voters,” Matuschek said to Berliner Zeitung, adding:
Why should someone who is more on the right-wing political spectrum switch to the BSW when there is already an established right-wing radical party with the AfD?
The BSW and Wagenknecht share many views with the AfD on restricting immigration. The BSW is also critical of sanctions against Russia, noting that Germany has no real alternative to the cheap gas bought from Russia prior to the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Wagenknecht, however, has dismissed any alliance with the AfD, stating in October, “Of course, we won’t make common cause with AfD.”
Current polls put the AfD in the lead in Brandenburg, along with Saxony and Thuringia, where the interior minister of Thuringia is attempting to ban any AfD politician from becoming the minister-president of the state by amending the state’s constitution.
Such seemingly anti-democratic policies done in the name of ‘saving democracy’ are not new in Germany. Some have even called for the AfD to be banned altogether as the party has become more popular with the German electorate.
Political support for banning the AfD has been somewhat limited, however, with Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz stating that banning political parties does not solve political problems.
Merz, a staunch opponent of the AfD, has also hit out against Wagenknecht and her party this week, stating that there is no need for the party in the German political landscape.
“Take a close look at this. Nobody needs this mixture of socialism and nationalism in this country,” Merz said and added, “There is a wide range of political options among the established parties, including us, the Union of CDU and CSU. There’s no gap.”
Judging by Forsa’s poll numbers, German voters appear to largely agree with Merz on that point. Matuschek said the yet-to-be-formed BSW’s policy platform is unknown to most Germans. As many as 75% of voters say they don’t know what the party’s stance will be on issues like foreign, economic, social, or climate policy.
“No more than three percent say they definitely want to vote for the Wagenknecht party,” Matuschek said, with some numbers putting the BSW around one percent, on the same level as “other small splinter parties such as Volt or the Animal Welfare Party.”
