The left-wing politician Gregor Gysi gives little chance to a new party led by the prominent left-wing Bundestag member Sahra Wagenknecht. “If she follows this path, she will be successful in the European elections, perhaps in the state elections in the east next year, but I am firmly convinced that she will not be successful in the federal election in 2025,” said Gysi on Thursday evening in Markus Lanz’s ZDF broadcast . “If there’s one thing she can’t do, it’s organizing.” Even if she has a manager for this – “he can fail, she can fail too. It’s all always directed at one person.” That is extremely difficult.
According to a survey published at the beginning of the week, around one in five eligible voters can fundamentally imagine voting for a new party led by Wagenknecht. Wagenknecht has fallen out with the Left and criticizes the political direction of her party. She is toying with the idea of founding her own party. According to her own statement, she wants to make a decision on this by the end of the year.
Gysi said in the ZDF broadcast that he feared that Wagenknecht would actually found a party. “Still, I’ll talk to her and try to talk her out of it.” If they still make “this mistake,” he will try to convince the members “so that we can then fight for the left.” Gysi added: “She shouldn’t die because of this.”
Gysi emphasized that he would no longer run for parliamentary group chairmanship. “I’m not going to chair the parliamentary group again, listen, I’m 75, I’ve had three heart attacks, so you have to know your limits.” But he’s driving around the country again and holding party meetings everywhere and talking to his comrades about how we should behave in such a situation – a possible split in the party.
The Left recently postponed the new election of the parliamentary group leadership and is now aiming for a decision by mid-October. We are looking for successors for the parliamentary group leaders Dietmar Bartsch and Mohamed Ali, both of whom no longer want to run.
