As of: March 17, 2024, 2:57 p.m
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Martin Schirdewan (l), federal party chairman, poses with Bodo Ramelow, Thuringian Prime Minister.
© Michael Reichel/dpa
Thuringia's Prime Minister wants to keep the Left in government after the state elections and prevent the AfD from having the say.
A program was decided to win back voters.
Ilmenau - In the state elections, the Left is relying on its Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow and a government program that promises more government and justice.
At a two-day state party conference in Ilmenau, Ramelow and the party executive reaffirmed the Left's claim to government after the state elections in September - despite currently weak poll numbers.
“We are not starting in the best position.
But that doesn’t scare me,” Ramelow said on Sunday.
The Left is confident of winning the state elections on September 1st.
Ramelow: “We are fighting against fascism”
“We are not fighting against other parties, we are fighting against fascism,” emphasized Ramelow.
“My goal is to get the AfD below 30 (percent) and us above 30.” It’s about a cosmopolitan and democratic Thuringia.
“We stand for social responsibility in this country.” Ramelow was reacting to the high poll numbers of the Thuringian AfD, which the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified as right-wing extremist.
The Left is currently polling between 15 and 17 percent - only about half as high as in the state elections five years ago.
The AfD with its party and parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke achieved values between 31 and 36 percent.
State company should build social housing
An 85-page government program until 2029 was unanimously approved. Its projects include a third year of free daycare in Thuringia, a nationwide 28-euro ticket for young people and the establishment of a state housing association.
It should receive 100 million euros in start-up capital and, in a first step, build or renovate 1,500 apartments and offer them with social security.
The Left wants more community schools and the expansion of community health centers.
School grades in the so-called gifted subjects of sports, art and music are to be abolished.
For the left, justice is “when every person is given equal opportunities from childhood to old age and no one is left behind,” the program says.
Check AfD ban procedure
The Left is against a debt brake, said state chairwoman Ulrike Grosse-Röthig and federal chairwoman Martin Schirdewan.
The federal government refuses to invest in climate protection and the future of the country.
“This traffic light policy is a disaster,” said Schirdewan.
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The party conference spoke out in favor of the state government supporting an initiative by Bremen to examine a legally secure AfD ban procedure.
The Left group in the Bundestag should also work for this.
The Thuringian co-chairman Christian Schaft accused the AfD of wanting to destroy Thuringia's future.
The Left is concerned with a “Thuringia for everyone” and with stable conditions after the state elections.
The goal must be to “dissolve the blockade in the Thuringian state parliament,” said Left parliamentary group leader Steffen Dittes.
Commitment to red-red-green
At the party conference, Grosse-Röthig called for continued cooperation with the SPD and the Greens, despite the current lack of majorities.
“We as red-red-green have more in common politically than with other parties.” The three-party coalition has ruled Thuringia for almost ten years, with a brief interruption;
Since 2020 it has no longer had a majority in the state parliament.
As a guest speaker, the Green Party's top candidate, Madeleine Henfling, made it clear how much the situation as a minority government is taking a toll on the three coalition partners.
“The minority coalition has brought us to the brink of our ability to compromise,” she said.
“Nevertheless, Red-Red-Green stood together.” Henfling did not rule out a continuation of the coalition with the Left.
“I hope that after September 1st we will be a progressive majority coalition again.”
CDU General Secretary Christian Herrgott accused the Left of having failed miserably in its own claim to “do a lot of things better”.
“The Prime Minister and his party are tired, exhausted, lacking inspiration and ideas.” dpa