Sahra Wagenknecht: Left-wing members apply for party exclusion proceedings

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Sahra Wagenknecht: Inside the party under criticism

Photo: Britta Pedersen / DPA

Sahra Wagenknecht is the top candidate of the North Rhine-Westphalian left for the federal election.

But if several members of the party have their way, Wagenknecht will soon no longer be a comrade: You have applied for party exclusion proceedings against the politician at the North Rhine-Westphalian State Arbitration Commission.

The seven-page document was submitted to the state arbitration commission in North Rhine-Westphalia on Wednesday evening.

It is before the SPIEGEL.

The reason for the motion is that Wagenknecht caused the party "serious damage".

The applicants cite Wagenknecht's new book "The Self-Righteous" as the main evidence.

In it, Wagenknecht criticizes the left as a party, it is said.

"In its criticism, it deviates from elementary principles of the left." Various interview excerpts are also named in which Wagenknecht leaves open whether she will remain in the party after the federal election.

"Media storm" against left positions

"Sahra Wagenknecht represents, as demonstrated here, its own program that contradicts the program of the left in many points," the motion says. They also justify the exclusion with the fact that the Left in North Rhine-Westphalia has lost 30 percent of the votes in the polls since Wagenknecht's free choice to become the top candidate, and that more than a hundred comrades have resigned from the state association. “The serious damage to the party has already occurred. It will be significantly greater if the campaign-like media storm against the political positions of the left by their most present representative in the media continues, «it says.

In the federal statutes of the Left it says: "Exclusion is only possible if the member intentionally violates the statutes or seriously violates the principles or regulations of the party and thereby causes serious damage." The applicants also see intent as given.

A party exclusion procedure is associated with high hurdles in Germany.

It will be decided in the coming days whether the state arbitration commission will allow the application.

Should the committee endorse expulsion from the party, Wagenknecht could appeal the decision to the Federal Arbitration Commission.

Should this confirm an exclusion, Wagenknecht would still have to go to a proper court.

Wagenknecht is considered the most prominent comrade on the left and has been active in various offices for decades. She always denied rumors that she wanted to found a new party.