German Left leaders step down following difficult election results

The leaders of Germany’s Left Party, Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan, have announced their decision to step down following a string of electoral defeats and growing criticism surrounding the party.

The pair said on the party’s website that they will not stand as candidates at the party conference in Halle in October. They have led the Left Party together since 2022.

Schirdewan called on party members to support their successor, in the hopes that they can bring a breath of fresh air to the party given upcoming state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg in September.

Consecutive disappointing election results likely contributed to Wissler and Schirdewan’s decision to resign as party leaders. In the European elections in June, the Left Party only won 2.7% of Germany’s vote.

By contrast, former Left Party politician Sahra Wagenknecht founded her own party, the BSW (Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance), which won 6.2% of the vote.

Analysis showed that the BSW had poached a significant amount of Left Party voters, prompting the latter’s members to call for consequences for their dire performance.

The Left will hope that new leadership will give the impression that the party is reinventing itself ahead of the state elections in eastern Germany, and it certainly seems like they’ll have their work cut out for them.

In 2019, the Left received 31% of the vote in the federal state of Thuringia, yet current polls suggest this support will be half that this time around.