The Left Party in Saarland wants to go into the federal election with Thomas Lutze as the top candidate.
Oskar Lafontaine is an opponent of the man.
Neunkirchen - The top candidate of the left in Saarland for the federal election stands: Thomas Lutze received 199 votes at a general meeting of the party on Sunday. With this, the state chairman prevailed against the candidate supported by Oskar Lafontaine. Only 150 delegates voted for the Saarland parliamentary group leader's favorite, Dennis Lander, a member of the state parliament.
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The Saarland left is currently fighting internally. Lafontaine recently accused the board of directors that he and the deputy parliamentary group leader Astrid Schramm were "the driving forces behind the internal party mud fight that has been practiced for years at the expense of the party".
It is "a question of decency" when the politicians give up their party membership and give back their seats in the state parliament.
Left-wing parliamentary group in the Saarland rejects the request to leave Lafontaine
The parliamentary group stood behind Lafontaine, who had asked Lutze not to run again for the top spot, as there are investigations against him for forgery of documents.
The parliamentary group also accused the state board of failing to “fix” the membership database “despite two requests from the federal board, most recently at the end of April”.
Lafontaine declared after Lutze's freestyle as the top candidate that the result was "to be expected".
"Normal members have no chance against the system of manipulated membership lists and bogus membership fees." He again called on the federal executive committee of his party to "put an end to this fraud".
Lafontaine has long been controversial within the left. He was criticized above all for the collection movement "Stand up" initiated with his wife Sahra Wagenknecht and his positions on refugee policy. The 77-year-old has been chairman of the Left Party in the Saarland state parliament since 2009.
(AFP / frs)