Wagenknecht successor Mohamed Ali: From the cover

It is officially the most powerful left in the Bundestag from now on. But the newly elected leader of the parliamentary group has to introduce herself. "Hello, Amira Mohamed Ali is my name," says Amira Mohamed Ali as she walks in front of the press in the Reichstag on Tuesday afternoon.

And indeed, the native of Hamburg is still far from the prominence of her predecessor. Sahra Wagenknecht is the superstar on the left, leadership-proven, welcome TV guest, aggressive - personally highly controversial.

Mohamed Ali, on the other hand, has only been sitting in the Bundestag since 2017. Her topics: animal and consumer protection. Although it is one of the party tails, but was previously considered quiet and unobtrusive. From the great grave struggles of the left, she always kept out.

Dispute does not end

Maybe that's exactly what you bring victory to the faction that day. With 36 to 29 votes, she prevails against Caren Lay, an experienced woman with a stable network. Lay was on the left already a federal managing director, Parteivize, deputy faction leader.

But she was for years also one of the closest companions of Katja Kipping, held the party leader in their guerrilla war with Wagenknecht's back. Lay, it says from the faction again and again, just too much of the old conflicts embodied.

It is clear that with Mohamed Ali's choice, the dispute is far from over yet. Too short, too dramatic is what happens on the left this afternoon.

Complicated starting position

That it should be tight, then both camps had adjusted. The starting position was also really complicated. For the left, there are three power-political groups with fissured borders:

• The representatives of the traditional left wing, whose leader was always Wagenknecht and to which also Mohamed Ali belongs,
• the reformers around Mohamed Ali's future co-faction leader Dietmar Bartsch,
• a motley crew of hardliner leftists who have moved away from Wagenknecht and pragmatists who have fallen out with Bartsch - they were collected by Katja Kipping.

It was clear: Lay had the Kipping people behind him, Mohamed Ali the Wagenknecht followers. And it was also clear: Bartsch himself favors the party spirit. Less content connects him with it. But Lay can not stand Bartsch personally for years, which is based on reciprocity.

Struggle for reformers

However, it was not clear for a long time what the other reformers from Bartsch's environment would do. Because there the frustration is already great. Since 2015, Bartsch had led the faction together with Wagenknecht. A forced marriage of the bitterly divided left and pragmatists, which should bring peace. But many reformers increasingly suffered from the unusual alliance. Wagenknecht's solo efforts, for example in refugee policy, repeatedly caused displeasure. So again join a left?

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Until shortly before the election both candidates hold talks. On Monday evening, the reformers meet in a Berlin restaurant. Only one applicant is invited to present herself once more: Mohamed Ali. At the latest at this moment it is clear that the lawyer, who now lives in Oldenburg, has the reformers on her side - and thus the better cards in the vote.

She still has to go to the second ballot.

34 out of 69 MPs vote for the 39-year-old in the first round, Lay has 30 votes, four comrades abstained. Absolute majority missed. In round two, Mohamed Ali prevails with 52.2 percent of the vote. A sign of peace and concord is truly not this result.

Wagenknecht fans cheer

In the end, especially the old Wagenknecht fans cheer. In front of the faction hall, they hug each other, take photos and videos of their new heroine. Even Bartsch grins - and that, even though he only got off with a black eye. Without a counterpart Bartsch brings 63.7 percent of the votes. Four years ago, it was still about 80 percent.

Important questions remain open: Can Bartsch and Mohamed Ali crush the fractured faction? How does the opposite side behave? And can Mohamed Ali ever step out of Wagenknecht's shadow?

This, in turn, is one of the few among the comrades, who on this day is consistently relaxed. Wagenknecht had retired because of health problems. She was certainly relieved, she now told journalists, because she could now concentrate on other tasks. Wagenknecht remains a deputy. But for the faction fights must take care of others from now on.