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Left-wing politician Wagenknecht (April 2022): “I very much regret that”
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Sahra Wagenknecht will not take part in the federal party conference in Erfurt due to illness.
The left-wing politician confirmed this to SPIEGEL.
The dpa news agency first reported on it.
“Unfortunately, I will not be able to go to the Left Party Congress because I have been on sick leave since Wednesday and there is a suspicion that I have contracted Corona because of a contact,” Wagenknecht told the agency.
'I very much regret that.' She continued: 'The party congress, with its decisions and the outcome of the elections, will probably decide whether the left has a future or not.
I would have liked to have been there and taken part in the debates.
Unfortunately, that will not be possible now.«
The party conference begins on Friday and runs through Sunday afternoon.
As a former parliamentary group leader, Wagenknecht is one of the best-known personalities in her party, but she crosses paths with the party leadership on important issues.
Wagenknecht had recently criticized the party leadership.
She herself has not applied for a party office.
Nor has she made it clear whether she will continue in the party if she doesn't enforce her positions.
Her husband Oskar Lafontaine, the former party leader, resigned in anger in mid-March.
The left is in a deep crisis before the party congress: In the federal election, the left only managed to get into parliament with 4.9 percent by winning three mandates in Berlin and Leipzig.
Pellmann won one of them.
In the state elections in Saarland, it reached 2.6 percent, in Schleswig-Holstein 1.7 percent and in North Rhine-Westphalia 2.1 percent.
In addition, allegations of sexual harassment and sexism shook the party.
In Erfurt, the entire party executive is to be re-elected on Saturday.
A top topic at the party congress will be foreign policy, in particular the party's position on Russia and the war in Ukraine.
asa/dpa