State Elections in Hamburg on 23.02.2020

Hamburg state elections 2020: wins & losses. Source: Wikipedia

Turn out grew to 63,3% (+6,8%). This increase corresponds with a growing voter turnout during state elections since 2016. Mostly the Greens benefit from it while the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the right wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) could hardly gain from any previous non-voters. The social imbalance between more affluent voters and precarious non-voters has not essentially changed.

The results allow a continuation of the red-green coalition. In total, the coalition comes out of the elections strengthened even though the weight has shifted in favour of the Greens. Read more...

Thuringia: Historical Win of DIE LINKE in State Parliament Elections

Elections took place last October and resulted in a first time win for DIE LINKE in a federal state with massive 31%. The AfD came in second with 23,4% and a plus of 12.8% - the highest growth in votes of all parties. The conservatives came in a weak third and had to accept huge losses (-11,8%). Since Social Democrats and Greens saw minor losses as well, there was no majority for the continuation of the red-red-green government. The Liberals barely crossed the 5% threshold.

Results, Gains and Losses. Source: Wikipedia

Since no party was willing to enter a coalition with the AfD, there was no chance of a majority government. The conservatives and the liberals had already excluded any cooperation with either AfD or DIE LINKE.


(f.l.t.r.) party chair Kipping, PM Ramelow, parliamentariy party leader Hennig-Wellsow, party chair Riexinger

A majority would need 46 out of the 90 seats in the Thuringian parliament. Then Minister President Bodo Ramelow declared DIE LINKE the winner of the elections, thus initiating coalition talks with Greens and Social Democrats. They would only be able to form a minority government. The plan was to cooperate issue by issue with conservatives and liberals.

Seats. Source: Wikipedia

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The "Dam Break" - Election of Minister-President in Thuringia

The election of the new Minister-President was due on February 5^th. Ramelow was the red-red-green candidate while the AfD presented their own largely unknown candidate. It was clear from the start that Ramelow would have a hard time receiving the absolute majority of votes in the first and second ballot. In the third round though only a relative majority would have been sufficient to elect a candidate. Hopes were high that this was the moment the “left” camp would get the desired votes. Yet, what happened next turned out to cause ripples not only on national level. The liberals presented a third candidate in the third round for which not only liberals and conservatives but eventually the AfD voted so that he gained the majority of 45 compared to 44 votes for Ramelow.
Paul Wellsow has more on this “dam break” in a text for the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

Right that day spontaneus protests broke out in several German towns and a call for nationwide manifestations by the German Trade Union and the alliance “Unteilbar” (indivisible) was announced for the 15^th of February to reject any pact with fascists. The call of "Unteilbar" in English.
In Erfurt alone 18.000 protesters took to the streets.

Eventually, the liberal candidate, Thomas Kemmerich, resigned a day after he accepted the position and remains as acting MP with no ministers or government in place.

The disastrous dealing with the situation by conservatives and liberals led to consequences on national level. Chancellor candidate Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced to step down from the position of party leader. Liberal party leader Christian Lindner initiated a vote of no confidence but was confirmed in position by the party board. State party leader of the conservatives, Mike Mohring, also announced to step down.
The polls showed growing support for DIE LINKE while the CDU must worry about their standing as a “people’s party”. Currently, the stalemate in Thuringia is not resolved. Attempts to install a preliminary MP and initiate new elections were rejected by the CDU precisely because of their bad showings.

Polls of 14.02.2020 compared to results of 27.10.2019. Source: dawum

Now, DIE LINKE party chair Bernd Riexinger calls on the conservative party to clarify their stance on DIE LINKE while Katja Kipping explores options for a red-red-green majority for the next federal elections in newspaper Zeit (translated excerpts):

“To not miss the right moment but to seize the opportunity for new political majorities beyond the conservatives – this is the current challenge for the progressive political parties in Germany. The developments in Thuringia and the political earthquake resulting from the opening of the conservative parties towards the AfD made it more than clear: now is the right moment, today.

The upcoming federal election offers more than any of the previous ones the chance for political change. It will become a fight over the principal course of our republic. This became obvious with the resignation of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer at the latest. It will not just be about how much social security we can realise or whether an ecological transformation will be successful which does not go at the expense of the poorest. It will be about the republican fundamental consensus of our society. The events in Thuringia show that this is at stake.”

“It is clear that Angela Merkel will not run again. The decisive question will be: what comes after the Grand Coalition (of Conservatives and Social Democrats)? (…) Three pathways can be imagined: firtsly, an authoritarian capitalism, the alliance of conservatives and national right-wing. Secondly, a modernised neoliberalism with a green touch, an alliance of conservatives and green party. And thirdly, a socio-economic turn which can only be carried by parties left of the conservatives. Only a joint left government would be capable of a real policy change which could lastingly alleviate climate change, military escalation, the shift to the right and social division.”

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Protests Against Defender 2020

In the first half of this year, mainly in April and May the NATO maneuver Defender 2020 will take place in Poland and the Baltics. 37,000 troups will be moved, 20,000 alone from the United states. With them tanks and armaments will be moved, all close to the Russian border.

DIE LINKE joined the call of peace movements to protest against this war maneuver and will take part in actions against it.

Heinz Bierbaum New President of European Left

Heinz Bierbaum (Triberg, 1946) is currently responsible for International Relations in the left-wing German party, Die Linke. He has previously served as the general secretary of the trade union IG Metall in the region of Frankfurt, regional MP in Saarland and as vice-president of Die Linke.

He speaks five European languages (German, English, Spanish, French and Italian) and, during his trade-union career, has maintained strong ties to the Italian and Catalan labour movements. He holds a doctorate in economics and worked as a university lecturer in his native Saarland, in the west of Germany. 

During his speech, delivered to the conference’s 400 participants, he described his election as ‘an opportunity and a personal challenge which will require some work’, put stated his strong desire to ‘continue building and improving the European Left’ and to strengthen the position of working people across the continent.   

The new leader of the European Left recognised that the party finds itself in a ‘difficult situation’ following the loss of seats in the European Parliament in 2019. This setback calls for a ‘critical evaluation of the future direction of the party.’

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