The evening before, she had danced with comrades in Erfurt, given TV interviews on overly loud rock music, joked on Twitter about the last move she missed in the face of the great party. Now Katja Kipping sits in the hall of the Federal Press Conference and smiles. "The night was short," says the left-leaning boss this Monday after the election. But you have every reason to be happy.
31 percent in Thuringia, for the first time the strongest force in a state election and the high probability that Bodo Ramelow remains Prime Minister - at least for a moment the comrades are on the winning side. And they also like to show that during these lessons.
Who wants to blame them? After all the bankruptcies this year. Sure, in Bremen they were able to move into a West German state government for the first time. But there was also the historic crash in the European elections, the drowning in Brandenburg and Saxony, where you actually want to be a people's party.
Not a good picture
For years, the left does not give a good picture. She is considered to be in conflict, her profile as out of focus. In addition, the loser image came with time. Accordingly, Ramelow had also gone in the election campaign on the greatest possible distance to the cross-biased federal party. On his posters he did not even print the link logo.
Ramelow has won despite the appearance of the left. He has hardly benefited from his party.
But that also means that the joy should quickly disappear again on the left.
The bickering comrades have only closed a truce anyway, the supreme quarrel simply suppressed so as not to give the electorate in the East too much ballast. For years, central programmatic issues in the party are unclear:
- For example, the evaluation of Bundeswehr missions abroad,
- the relationship to the euro,
- or dealing with migration.
Above all, the top quartet does not work on a personal level. The party leaders Kipping and Bernd Riexinger repeatedly fought with the faction leaders Sahra Wagenknecht and Dietmar Bartsch.
No consensual solution
When Wagenknecht announced its withdrawal from the group's presidency in the spring, many comrades saw this as an opportunity for a change that should finally bring peace to the party. But it quickly became clear: there can be no question of this until further notice.
The re-election of the group's executive committee had to be postponed for several months - because no mutually agreed solution was in sight. On the 12th of November the time has come. But everything still points to a hard power struggle.
State election Thuringia 2019
Preliminary final result
Second vote result
Shares in percent
CDU
21.8
-11.7
The left
31
+2.8
SPD
8.2
-4.2
AFD
23.4
+12.8
green
5.2
-0.5
FDP
5
+2.5
other
5.4
-1.7
allocation of seats
Total: 90
Majority: 46 seats
29
8th
5
5
21
22
The Left (29)
SPD (8)
Green (5)
FDP (5)
CDU (21)
AfD (22)
Source: Provincial Returning Officer
Results in detail
Clearly so far is only one thing: Wagenknecht co-faction leader Bartsch wants to compete again. His chances are good. We are looking for another woman for the double tip.
The problem is the complicated wing arithmetic on the left. Previously, two camps dominated the party: Bartsch's pragmatic reformers and the left wing force around Wagenknecht. That the front men together formed the top of the group, was the attempt to pacify the eternal dispute between the two wings. With success.
However, over time a third group emerged, led by Kipping. The party leader scraped disappointed reformers and leftists behind. Meanwhile, Kippings people are a crucial factor in the faction.
Comfortable majority?
The question now is which candidate could win a comfortable majority given the hardened fronts. For months, the name of Caren Lay, currently deputy faction leader, has been falling time and again.
Lay occupies as a rental policy spokeswoman one of the hottest topics of the left. However, she represents a constituency in Saxony. With Bartsch and her then two East Germans would be at the head of the group, the Proporz not aware
Christoph Soeder / DPA
Left politician Lay: representative of the Kipping camp
In addition: Lay is a clear representative of the Kipping camp. She is apparently to be flanked by her supporters Niema Movassat and Nicole Gohlke, who, according to left-wing figures, are considering running for the vice-posts.
However, they all could only hope for a very small majority if they really try. What's more, a contest would be likely. Other parts of the group are still discussing a possible counter-candidate.
In the end, therefore, the choice that should clear everything, the cracks only deepen. The dispute could go until the coming year. There is enough room for it. In spring, the party is planning a strategy conference. Board elections are scheduled for next summer. Then it's also about the question of whether Kipping again for the party presidency takes - and whether someone would challenge.
Debate about cooperation with the CDU
After all, in another question, which could naturally cause trouble for the left, the comrades practice objectivity. It's about Thuringia. Despite the election triumph, there is no majority for the red-red-green coalition. It is now being discussed whether the left could be tolerated by the CDU - or even form a coalition with the conservatives. This is hard to imagine for most leftists. But there are hardly any open critical voices so far
The willingness to talk is also advised by two leftists who once guided the destinies of the comrades and who fought each other in regularity: ex-party leader Oskar Lafontaine and former parliamentary group leader Gregor Gysi.
"Basically, democratic parties must be willing to talk to each other," said Lafontaine the SPIEGEL. The key decisions of the government of Bodo Ramelow "should not be insurmountable hurdles for Christian Democrats either". In general: The conflicts between the CDU and the left were more about questions of federal politics.
"Maybe left and CDU have to jump over their shadows and carefully explore what can be done together for Thuringia," Gysi told SPIEGEL. The Left should now "pay attention" to the Union, but the CDU also accept that the Left is the stronger force. "It does not help, but reason is announced," says Gysi. "It's uncomfortable and exhausting, but you have to think extraordinary."