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Luigi Pantisano
Photo: Julian Rettig
Luigi Pantisano's application film takes five minutes.
You can find out a lot about the man who wants to power in Constance.
That he once worked as a district manager in the Lake Constance city.
That he previously studied in Tokyo.
That he was a scientist at the University of Stuttgart and currently sits on the municipal council of the state capital - for an alliance that bears the name "SÖS": Stuttgart Ecological Social.
However, Pantisano does not mention a not entirely insignificant detail in the video from June: that he is a member of the Left - and has been spending a large part of his working time in the constituency office of left-wing party leader Bernd Riexinger since 2017.
For the first time in its history, the left in western Germany could appoint a lord mayor.
There is a runoff election in Constance on Sunday.
In the first vote on September 27th, Pantisano was in first place with 38.3 percent - just ahead of incumbent Uli Burchardt.
A left triumph in Baden-Württemberg of all places?
In the conservative south-west, the comrades are still a splinter party nationwide, with three seats next to the FDP they represent the smallest parliamentary group in the Konstanz municipal council.
Instead, the Greens set the tone as clearly the strongest force.
Burchardt's CDU follows behind.
Bright green
But Pantisano has a recipe for success: he talks as little as possible about his own party.
There is little to see of the red of the left on election posters and flyers.
Everything is kept in bright green.
You have to search for a while on his website until you find a brief reference to Pantisano's left-wing membership.
On the other hand, there is a prominent message: "I am applying as an independent and non-partisan candidate for your vote in the mayoral election in Constance."
Independently?
Non-partisan?
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Pantisano's Facebook page
"I'm a member of the left, but I stand up for a broad alliance and of course I feel obliged to this alliance," says Pantisano.
In general, he asserts, party membership hardly plays a role in mayoral candidates in Baden-Württemberg.
Really not?
In the land of the green star mayors Boris Palmer (Tübingen) and Fritz Kuhn (Stuttgart)?
Rather, it should probably not play a role in this special election campaign, his election campaign.
After all, the left has an image problem.
In the Bund they also stand for strife and ideological debates, some comrades ensnare autocrats, and it is far from being decided how ecological the left really want to be.
Pantisano, on the other hand, made climate protection the topic of his election campaign.
He calls for a car-free city center, free local transport and climate-neutral building.
It's a smart strategy: the 41-year-old speaks to the large, green milieu in the city.
Environmental issues have long dominated the debates in Konstanz.
Last year, the city symbolically declared a "climate emergency".
Distance to the party
Pantisano, on the other hand, does not have to pretend in his role.
He was once a member of the Greens himself.
Even the distance to one's own party is no accident.
Even after joining the left, Pantisano continues to sit for SÖS in the Stuttgart municipal council.
Breaking away from the alliance to which he has belonged for many years is out of the question, he says.
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Pantisano shortly before a municipal council meeting in Stuttgart in summer 2018, which was accompanied by demonstrators
Photo: Julian Rettig
Now it is not uncommon for mayoral candidates to seek a non-partisan appearance.
Pantisano competitor Burchardt does the same.
But the incumbent's CDU membership is really no secret: for example, he is also their parliamentary group leader in the district council.
Pantisano, on the other hand, skirts the Left Party as much as possible.
His opponents therefore attack him more and more severely.
"Classic Left Activist"
In mid-September the CDU in Constance wrote on its Facebook page: "Luigi Pantisano is not the candidate of the political center, but a classic left-wing activist."
The result was a real storm of indignation.
"I think what Mr. Pantisano is doing is not very transparent," says Fabio Crivellari, head of the CDU city association.
"Until recently, a lot of people in town didn't even know he was on the left."
Pantisano denies that.
He never made a secret of his left membership.
He is just not a candidate for the party.
The federal left are still trying everything to avoid getting in the way of Pantisano.
After the first ballot, there was a clear announcement in the Bundestag faction that the comrades should please refrain from making public comments on the election at Lake Constance, MPs report.
The concern: a cheering chorus of comrades could disrupt Pantisano's campaign story.
Left boss Bernd Riexinger
Photo: Britta Pedersen / dpa
Party leader Bernd Riexinger emphasizes that Pantisano is on unpaid leave for his election campaign.
He doesn't interfere himself.
Only as a non-partisan candidate has Pantisano a chance, the top comrades in Berlin know that.
They also know that an election victory would still be a sign.
Another step on the way to the normality of the Federal Republic of Germany - after the first West German government participation in Bremen.
"You can see that the left does not evoke such strong defensive reflexes today," says Riexinger.
But there is more to it than that.
Pantisano's success seems like a confirmation of all those in the party who insist on a stronger anchoring in movements and see ecology as an important topic of the party.
Above all: Riexinger.
Model for the federal government?
The party leader claims to have reorganized the left.
In fact, the regional associations in the west tend to grow, while the left in the east is shrinking.
Today, the comrades specifically address younger people, not with Ostalgie, not with assembly line folklore or criticism of immigration, but with anti-racism, feminism and climate protection.
Some in the party believe that the left is giving up its regular electorate and making itself superfluous in the long run.
Others like Riexinger are certain that this is the only way the party can exert influence over the long term.
The probably new party leader Janine Wissler also thinks so.
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Pantisano at a sea rescue demonstration in Stuttgart 2019
Photo: Julian Rettig
Pantisano's success shows that this calculation can work - at least under the right circumstances and in the right place.
If he could not convincingly convey that climate protection and movement are important to him, Pantisano would not be about to move into the town hall.
In fact, Pantisano is supported by a broad alliance.
Greens, leftists, local lists and initially also the SPD, which later put up its own candidate, had come together to attack the CDU.
The current alliance later emerged from these rounds - and Pantisano as a candidate.
The Green Samuel Hofer asserts that it is not a problem that there is a leftist running for the Greens "as long as he is the best candidate".
And that is Pantisano: "He has experience in local politics, he knows the city, is an urban planner, has a history of migration, is interested in the environment, is well connected. Put jokingly: If he were a woman, he would be perfect for us."
The local group of Fridays for Future (FFF) does not officially support Pantisano, but in fact it does.
This is shown by a social media video in which FFF "clearly recommend Luigi Pantisano from a climate protection perspective".
The Seebrücke refugee aid group has officially backed Pantisano.
There is also a list of trade unionists who speak out in favor of the left-wing politician.
"Something is growing together," says the Green Hofer.
In any case, it is an alliance that could carry Pantisano to victory.
Even in the Union, they fear losing the election.
It would be another premiere in Constance, after a green man was elected mayor in Germany for the first time in 1996.
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