The Case of Sahra Wagenknecht: A New Party in Thuringia and the Case Against a Left-Left Regime

The third state election will take place in September in the eastern state of Brandenburg. Germany’s next national election is due in a little over a year.

The Left Party of outgoing governor Bodo Ramelow has slumped into electoral insignificance nationally, making Thuringia’s politics particularly complicated. The projections showed it losing nearly two-thirds of its support compared with five years ago, dropping to around 12%.

Sahra Wagenknecht, long one of its best-known figures, left last year to form her own party, which is now outperforming the Left. Wagenknecht celebrated what she called an unprecedented success for a new party, underlined its refusal to work with AfD’s Höcke and said she hopes it can form “a good government” with the CDU.

The CDU has long refused to work with the Left Party, descended from East Germany’s ruling communists. It hasn’t ruled out doing something with Wagenknecht’s BSW to form a government without the Alternative for Democracy in Thuringia. BSW is also at its strongest in the east.

The Alternative for Germany has existed for 11 years and rose in prominence in six years due to the large number of refugees allowed into Germany.

Wagenknecht’s BSW combines left-wing economic policy with an immigration-skeptic agenda. The CDU has also stepped up pressure on the national government for a tougher stance on immigration.

Germany’s stance toward Russia’s war in Ukraine is also a sensitive issue in the east. Berlin is Ukraine’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the U.S., but it isn’t viewed well by both of the opposing parties. Wagenknecht has also assailed a recent decision by the German government and the U.S. to begin deployments of long-range missiles to Germany in 2026.

Scholz’s center-left Social Democrats were at least on course to remain in the two state legislatures with single-digit support, but the environmentalist Greens appeared set to lose their seats in Thuringia. The coalition partners in the state governments were the two parties. The Free Democrats, the pro-business part of the government, lost their seats in Thuringia. It had no representation in Saxony.

Deep discontent with a national government notorious for infighting, anti-immigration sentiment and skepticism toward German military aid for Ukraine are among the factors that have contributed to support for populist parties in the region, which is less prosperous than western Germany.

The far right Alternative for Germany won a state election in Germany’s east on Sunday for the first time, and was on track to finish at least second to the conservatives in a second vote, according to projections.

A new party founded by a prominent leftist also made an immediate impact, while the parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular national government obtained extremely weak results.

The CDU has been supported by 31.7% of the population in Saxony, compared to 30.4% for the nationalist Alternative for Germany.

“An openly right-wing extremist party has become the strongest force in a state parliament for the first time since 1949, and that causes many people very deep concern and fear,” said Omid Nouripour, a leader of the Greens, one of the national governing parties.

Alice said that this is a historic success for the group. She said that the result was a “requiem” for the coalition.

The French nationalist right-wing party in Thringen and Sachsen-Saxony is still waiting for the next national election: How badly has the government failed to form?

It’s clear that in the next national election, the country is going to make a shift to the right. That will mean stricter immigration rules and a bigger focus on growing Germany’s stagnant economy. In France, which has a strong showing by the right-wing party, a new government has yet to be formed.

A man from Syria murdered three people and injured several others at a festival in western Germany last week.

The man that was attacked was supposed to have been deported months ago, and it led to growing anger about Germany’s immigration system.

Still, the nationalist, Russia-friendly party could end up with enough seats in both states to block decisions requiring a two-thirds vote, such as the appointment of judges and top security officials.

In Thringen, where the BSW won about 15% of seats, and in Saxony, where the party won more than 10% of seats, it took just eight months for the party to be established.