As of: January 26, 2024, 11:18 a.m
By: Nils Hinsberger
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Oskar Lafontaine joins the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance.
His wife's party is the ex-leftist's fourth party.
He is also scheduled to speak at the party conference.
Saarbrücken - The newly founded party around ex-left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht is receiving prominent growth: Oskar Lafontaine, ex-leftist and former finance minister under Gerhard Schröder (SPD), has joined the "Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht - For Reason and Justice" ( BSW) announced.
This is reported by the
Saarbrücker Zeitung
.
Lafontaine's entry into the BSW shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, as it is his wife's party.
Lafontaine and Wagenknecht announced their relationship in 2011 before marrying in 2014.
“Of course I’m a member of the BSW,” said Lafontaine.
He had previously promoted Wagenknecht's party on Facebook,
Spiegel
said.
Lafontaine, the man of many parties, now in the Wagenknecht alliance
For Lafontaine, the Wagenknecht alliance is not the first party - or the second.
Overall, throughout his political career he was a member of the Left, the SPD, the WASG (Work & Social Justice - The Electoral Alternative) and the PDS.
He was also able to achieve considerable success in the SPD and the Left.
Among other things, Lafontaine was the first social democratic prime minister of Saarland, finance minister under former Chancellor Schröder and left-wing leader in Saarland.
Oskar Lafontaine (r.) with his wife Sahra Wagenknecht.
The former chairman of the Left in Saarland has now joined the BSW.
(Archive image) © Jörg Carstensen/picture alliance/dpa
The 80-year-old left the Left in 2022, which he co-founded in 2005 after a falling out with Chancellor Schröder.
The reason he gave for leaving was that the left no longer met his demands.
“I wanted there to be a left-wing alternative to the politics of social insecurity and inequality in the political spectrum, which is why I co-founded the Left Party.
Today’s left has abandoned this claim,” he said in a statement.
He now seems to have found this alternative.
Lafontaine is supposed to speak about the Wagenknecht alliance at the party conference
The BSW will hold its first party conference next Saturday in Berlin, reports the
Berliner Zeitung
.
Lafontaine is scheduled to speak at the event, as the BSW announced in an email.
The event will take place in the former GDR cinema Kosmos.
In addition to Wagenknecht and Lafontaine, co-chair Amira Mohamed Ali and the top candidate for the European elections Fabio De Masi are also expected.
According to surveys, Wagenknecht's new party is off to a real flying start.
The party can expect election results of up to 8 percent, especially in the upcoming elections in East Germany.
This was the result of a survey by
Infratest Dimap
on behalf of the
MDR
.
The party wants to appeal to left-wing and conservative voters with its program.
The Spiegel
speculates that it could become real competition for the AfD, which is partly right-wing extremist
.
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Wagenknecht had also already spoken to Die
Zeit
about possible government participation .
“We have to be prepared to possibly participate in a government,” said Wagenknecht.
In order to prevent the AfD from forming a government in some federal states, the party is also prepared to hold talks with the Thuringian Left or the CDU in Saxony.
“If we can really implement better policies, we won’t duck away,” said Wagenknecht.
(nhi)