Saxony's Left Party leaders: Withdrawal of the federal leadership an opportunity

Saxony's state chairpersons of the Left Party, Susanne Schaper and Stefan Hartmann, see the announced resignation of federal chairpersons Martin Schirdewan and Janine Wissler as an opportunity. They have decided to "clear the way for personnel renewal", they explained in a statement. In it, they pay tribute to the party leaders "because the difficult situation of our party has many causes". They now wanted to help "reposition the Left Party in terms of content and leave the time of discord behind us once and for all".

Federal chairpersons declare resignation

Wissler and Martin, who have jointly led the Left Party since 2022, declared on the party's website that they would no longer run for office at the party conference in October. The background to this is the series of election defeats and growing criticism of the two leaders, as well as the splitting of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which weakened the party. The party has suffered a series of electoral defeats; in 2021, it only entered the Bundestag via a special rule with three direct mandates. In the European elections in June, the Left Party only received 2.7 percent of the vote.