Patrick Poppel, expert at the Center for Geostrategic Studies in Belgrade
Since the European elections and regional elections in eastern Germany last year, the BSW has gone from one election success to another. But six weeks before the federal election, the party rating plunged to five percent.
Sahra Wagenknecht explains the poor poll results at the party conference by saying that the party is still young. And warns the more than 600 party members to fight for every vote by February 23rd.
In order to enter the Bundestag through elections for the first time, the BSW has adapted its strategy. The party has not changed its tough course on migration policy, but the topic no longer played a major role at the party conference.
It can obviously be seen that Germany's AfD can hardly win in a competition with the right-wing alternative. The Sahra Wagenknecht alliance's unique selling point should therefore also be its "peace policy" in the federal election campaign.
The most applause from Wagenknecht supporters were always heard when it came to positioning as a peace party. A clear message: There should be “no more cents, no more weapons and no more German soldiers for Ukraine.”
Wagenknecht is counting on a quick negotiated solution, without any preconditions for Vladimir Putin. And Wagenknecht also wants cheap gas from Russia. The 55-year-old chairwoman doesn't believe in sanctions against Russia and China. For Wagenknecht, the sanctions are “just an economic stimulus program for the US economy and a killer program for German and European companies.”
The party also wants to win over Corona critics. Coming to terms with the pandemic plays a larger role at the party conference. This goes as far as the claim of an invited guest speaker that the virus did not come from China, but from a US laboratory. Although this was not backed up with facts, Wagenknecht still speaks of a still poisoned “climate of opinion” and insists that more and more people no longer dare to express their opinions freely. She also wants to woo these people.
BSW's candidate for chancellor, Sahra Wagenknecht, has also defended her party's restrictive migration policy. “We have to stop uncontrolled migration,” she demanded, referring to recent attacks, cultural conflicts and the housing shortage in Germany. “That’s not right-wing,” she said. "That's just common sense."
The BSW program stipulates, among other things, that asylum procedures outside the EU should take place in safe third countries and that criminal refugees lose their right to an asylum procedure. Wagenknecht also called for a “return to the social market economy”.
The election program was decided almost silently. The party paints a picture of a crisis-stricken Germany and calls for a new political beginning. After just one year, this party is already represented in regional parliaments and is preparing for the election campaign at the national level. The top candidate has been a well-known person for years and many people who find themselves in poor social situations are addressed by this party's program.
The current economic decline in Germany supports the rise of this left-wing party which is already represented in the European Parliament. The BSW also claims to be the only truly classic left-wing party. This can also be clearly seen in the priorities in the election program.
The Greens and the Social Democrats in particular have increasingly found themselves in a liberal quagmire in recent years. There is a recognizable potential for a truly left-wing party in Germany. Of course, acceptance and support is stronger in the east of the country than in the west.
But the ongoing social and economic problems of many people will also have a positive impact on the conditions for the possible success of this party in the western federal states of Germany.
Even if this party clearly distances itself from the program of the right-wing AfD, these two parties also have a lot in common. When it comes to the issues of the Ukraine conflict and mass migration, people have the same perception, even if they use a different political language. Parts of the potential electorate are also similar - they are socially disadvantaged people and the people who were let down by the old parties.
With 10 seats in the Bundestag, 6 MEPs and 47 MEPs in regional parliaments, the BSW is in a good position to continue to build. And it is very important for the political spectrum in Germany that there is more than just one opposition force in the future.
