Left Party Congress: New leadership duo complete - "This party is certainly not perfect"

The new dual leadership of the left is certain: Janine Wissler and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow will now also lead the party in the election campaigns.

• On Friday and Saturday (February 26th and 27th) 600 delegates of the party Die Linke will meet for the online party conference.

• The new chairman duo has been determined: Janine Wissler

  (see update from February 27, 10:01 a.m.)

  and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow

  (see update from February 27, 10.44 a.m.).

• In their inaugural speech, the two made it clear what was in

  store

  for them

  (see update from February 27, 10:58 a.m.).

• The news ticker for the party conference of the Left is constantly updated.

Update from February 27, 10:58 a.m.:

After their election, the two new party chairmen Hennig-Wellsow and Wissler come back to the lectern.

Wissler knows: “This party is certainly not perfect.” And: “Sometimes quite exhausting.” She calls on the party members to argue and wrestle the right way.

"Let's talk honestly and in solidarity about our weaknesses."

In her inaugural address, Hennig-Wellsow also thanks the Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow, because she comes from this regional association.

“I hope we will always stay strong together.

Now the Thuringian Way is also finding its way into federal politics. ”The new chairmen now want to talk to the district and state chairmen about their ideas and problems.

And there should be a new communication: In the future, disputes should no longer be understood as personal insult, but rather solutions should be advanced with the exchange.

The question also arises as to what will change with a purely female leadership duo: "I hope we can encourage as many women as possible to join the party," said Hennig-Wellsow.

They want to fight together for women's rights, that children are well and that the ecological crisis is overcome.

Left party congress: Hennig-Wellsow second party leader

Update from February 27, 10:44 a.m.:

Now the second party leader has also been determined: Susanne Hennig-Wellsow with a result of 70.5 percent.

The candidate Pflanz received 19.4 percent of the vote, Skott 2.8 percent.

Update from February 27, 10:39 a.m.:

The last candidate, Torsten Skott, reports from his private kitchen.

He wants the breadth of the party to be taken into account.

This starts with people like him, who live on basic security, to people who work in the state parliament.

Skott emphasizes that the left has the right to be a workers party.

But there are currently no workers in the front rows, "if we're honest".

He criticizes the fact that the party is often shaped by the middle class.

He runs in the election of party chairman because the party is important to him.

For example, the youth must be brought forward, Skott thinks.

Left party conference: Hennig-Wellsow campaigns for government participation

Update from February 27, 10:29 am:

Now Susanne Hennig-Wellsow from Thuringia takes the floor.

"I'm competing because I don't want to wait any longer." She wanted to encourage and leave.

“Our party is an important party that this country urgently needs,” says Hennig-Wellsow.

"What we all have in common is that we want people to be better off and that we therefore need a social change that makes exactly that possible."

"Let us understand that we are only strong together ... because it is about more than ourselves." The corona pandemic shows very clearly that it is still those who have less money or who live in cramped apartments who suffer most from crisis and disease.

"We really can't accept all of that."

She advertises her will to participate in the government: "I will ensure that we drive the CDU / CSU out of the Federal Republic, out of the government".

Whether black-green or red-red-green comes, "is also up to us".

Raising the minimum wage, stopping arms exports and expanding women's rights are some of the important issues.

Update from February 27, 10:20 a.m.:

Now the candidate Reimar Pflanz from Brandenburg speaks.

He begins to realize that the two women, Wissler and Hennig-Wellsow, will become party leaders, “no doubt”.

But he is running anyway, because he would like to take the opportunity to speak out clearly against participation by the left in government.

“Because it's about content and honesty,” says Pflanz.

He doesn't want a weak party in government.

"Anyone can do bad government, and the left has already proven that," says the candidate.

But: “Who should be a good opposition today if not us?” He asks the group.

One could "strongly support" the SPD and the Greens with common content from the opposition.

“We are the carers, we can't leave this field to the AfD.” A strong peace movement is needed, as is a strong climate movement.

"For a strong left, we all need comrades inside," says Pflanz.

Update from February 27, 10:07 a.m.:

After the first list has already been completed, the second, mixed list is now being voted on - from which the second party leader follows.

These three candidates are also allowed to introduce themselves again before the election takes place.

By the way: The elections must then be confirmed again by postal vote.

This whole process should be completed by March 10th.

Left party convention: Janine Wissler elected as new party leader

Update from February 27, 10:01 a.m.:

The first party chairman has been elected: Janine Wissler receives 84.2 percent of the votes from the delegates.

Update from February 27, 9:54 a.m.:

The Hessian parliamentary group leader Janine Wissler is the first to give her introductory speech.

"The challenges are huge, and so are the opportunities," she says with a view to the corona pandemic.

A few below deck would be doing pretty well while others move the boat forward.

For some, the short-time work allowance is not even enough for rent.

"We live in a class society and that becomes even clearer in this crisis." The number of millionaires is increasing.

On the contrary: Many people toil, "but hardly get anywhere."

What does that say about a society when people "break their backs for years in shift work and then threaten poverty in old age?" This is not an individual problem, but a social one.

“We want to redistribute wealth,” says Wissler.

"We want to implement concrete reforms today and tomorrow." The goal is a "democratic socialism without exploitation of people and nature."

Candidate Wissler would like a stop from war missions and arms exports.

"Changes are possible": You have to radiate this attitude in order to overcome resignation.

The party congress must send a signal of departure.

Update from February 27, 9.42 a.m.:

The election of the new party leader of the left begins.

There are four candidates on the list, with Janine Wissler and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow being given the best chances beforehand.

Update from February 27, 8:57 a.m.:

The Left is continuing its digital federal party

conference

today from 9 a.m.

On the second day of the deliberations, the approximately 600 delegates elect a new left-wing leadership.

After almost nine years, Bernd Riexinger and Katja Kipping are expected to be replaced by a female dual leadership

(see initial report)

.

The Hessian parliamentary group leader Janine Wissler and the Thuringian state and parliamentary group chairwoman Susanne Hennig-Wellsow apply for the successor.

Left party conference: Chairwoman Kipping campaigns for government participation at the federal level

Update from February 26, 6:35 p.m.:

The outgoing party leader of the Left Katja Kipping spoke out at the federal party congress in favor of striving for possible government participation at the federal level.

"Because times demand more from us than just stand on the sidelines and criticize the bad game of the others," argues the 43-year-old.

Like her party colleague, Kipping, who has chaired the Left Party together with Bernd Riexinger since 2012, is no longer standing for election.

The Hessian parliamentary group leader Janine Wissler and the Thuringian left-wing chairwoman Susanne Hennig-Wellsow are favorites for the successors.

"Let's go out onto the pitch, let's gather behind two captains and attack," said Kipping with regard to her successors.

The 43-year-old sees the unclear identity of her party in relation to possible participation in government as the main reason for the currently weak poll numbers of the left.

A party that has resolved the government issue for itself will be heard more than a party that is still undecided, she said.

Left party congress: Riexinger speaks out against deployments abroad - "End the armaments madness"

Update from February 26, 4:50 p.m.:

To govern or not - this Gretchen question is also an issue at the Left Party Congress on Friday.

“We are providing a Prime Minister with Bodo Ramelow.

We can rule.

There is no question at all, ”said one of two candidates for the party chairmanship, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, on Friday in the ARD“ Mittagsmagazin ”.

Meanwhile, party leader Bernd Riexinger confirmed his party's rejection of Bundeswehr missions abroad in his farewell speech at the Left's online party conference - defense policy could be one of the main problems in a red-red-green coalition.

The Greens, too, recently switched to a more arms-friendly course.

Riexinger emphasized that they wanted to “end the armaments madness”.

The money must be invested in the health system and not in tanks, tornadoes and armed drones.

"Our positions on peace, against all foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr: We will not participate in any government that wages wars and allows combat missions of the Bundeswehr abroad."

Riexinger also renewed the demand for a property levy to finance the corona crisis costs.

It should pay the costs of the crisis to those who have enriched themselves in the last few decades and even during the pandemic, he said on Friday at the two-day delegates' meeting that is taking place online because of Corona.

Update from February 26th, 1:34 p.m.:

The Left has now started its two-day digital federal party

conference

.

The 600 delegates elect not only the top management but also the rest of the party executive committee.

Today, after speeches by the outgoing party leaders and parliamentary group leaders, the key proposal will be discussed.

Its motto is "How to get out of the crisis fairly - with a social, peaceful and ecological system change".

"The question will be: who pays the bill?" It says in the submission of the party executive.

The super-rich would have to be used to finance the crisis.

The left wants to adopt the election manifesto for the federal elections in autumn at another party congress in June.

Left Party Congress: Looking for a new top - Kipping believes in Wissler and Hennig-Wellsow

Update from February 26th, 11:05 am:

Before the start of the Left Party Congress at 1 pm, the outgoing chairwoman Katja Kipping was convinced that a new dual leadership composed of Janine Wissler and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow will "reflect the breadth of the party".

“I am confident that they will find the right course,” said Kipping in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”.

Meanwhile, the current chairman, Bernd Riexinger, is pleased that the party has been able to expand its range of topics in recent years.

The party is no longer fighting just for social justice, but also for climate protection, said Riexinger to the

editorial network Germany

.

The left has also become more movement and campaign-oriented.

"We have expanded our milieu."

Left Party Conference: Postponed twice in advance - on Saturday election of the new leadership duo

+

The outgoing left-wing party leaders Bernd Riexinger and Katja Kipping speak to journalists at the federal press conference.

(Archive)

© Carsten Koall / dpa

First report from February 25th:

Berlin - After almost nine years at the top of the left, the outgoing chairmen, Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, draw a positive balance of their work.

The left has become an integral part of the political landscape, said Kipping to journalists in Berlin a few days before the change in leadership.

Riexinger spoke of a recognized party with which people discuss and which is no longer simply dismissed and insulted.

The duo has been leading the Left since June 2012 and actually wanted to quit last June, but the planned election party conference was postponed twice due to the corona virus.

This Friday and Saturday (February 26/27) around 600 delegates will meet for an online party congress - like the CDU in January - to elect a new top.

This is expected to be formed by the deputy party and Hessian parliamentary group leader Janine Wissler and the Thuringian state and parliamentary group leader Susanne Hennig-Wellsow.

There are no other promising candidates.

Party congress in Berlin: low left polls - dream of red-red-green in danger?

You have given everything in the last nine years, said Kipping.

“The ground is prepared.

Now a new chapter can be opened. ”But the ground is rocky: The left is bobbing about seven to eight percent in the polls.

If the mood of the electorate does not change significantly by autumn, the dream of governing at the federal level by the side of the Greens and the SPD will probably remain.

Surveys do not see a majority for this at the moment.

The two co-bosses emphasized the positive in their balance sheet: the left has become more modern in recent years and is now also more broadly positioned in terms of its program.

"We have not thrown our principles, such as criticism of capitalism or peace policy overboard, and yet we provide Prime Minister, have introduced the rent cap in Berlin and are in the government in Bremen in the first West German state," said Kipping.

Left party conference: Sahra Wagenknecht criticizes the party's orientation

But the era with her and Riexinger at the top was also marked by heated arguments about the direction of the party.

The ongoing dispute with ex-parliamentary group leader and party celebrity Sahra Wagenknecht, who campaigned for a more restrictive migration policy, left particularly deep wounds.

Wagenknecht, who is now a simple member of the Bundestag and is also a candidate for the next parliament, continues to persist.

She repeatedly criticizes the left's course for being too aloof.

The left is being elected less and less in prefabricated housing estates and more in expensive, trendy neighborhoods, she recently told

Spiegel

and called for the party to concentrate on representing the low-income, the lower middle, the working class.

"But that only works if we take the worldview of these people seriously, if we respect their values ​​and desires, instead of labeling them as retrograde."

Left party conference in Berlin: New party leaders should bring a breath of fresh air

The new party leaders should now bring in a breath of fresh air and unity.

But Wissler and Hennig-Wellsow also have different ideas, as became clear in interviews in advance: Hennig-Wellsow, who is involved in government with the Left in Thuringia, also wants to work towards government participation by the Left in the federal government and speaks of similarities with the Greens and SPD.

You stand for a "radical realpolitik".

Wissler, on the other hand, considers a government made up of the three parties to be rather unlikely and is tough on the issue of foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr - a possible sticking point in any coalition negotiations: "I see no possibility for compromises with Bundeswehr deployments, unlike other questions," said Wissler recently in the

Tagesspiegel

.

"There is no such thing as a little war."

Video: upheaval on the left: Kipping and Riexinger step down

The left will not join a government that decides to deploy abroad.

Hennig-Wellsow, on the other hand, does not close this door completely and at least does not rule out peacekeeping missions under the umbrella of the United Nations.

Still-party leader Kipping sees no problem and refers to her collaboration with Riexinger.

Wherever you have different positions, you look for a common solution.

She is "totally confident".

After her time at the top of the party, Kipping wants to continue to “take action against Hartz IV and poverty” and sees herself as a “bridge builder for new left majorities” - exactly how in which function, that is open.

Riexinger also wants to stay with the parliamentary group in the Bundestag.

(dpa / fmü)