Surprise at Maischberger: Wagenknecht suddenly shows appreciation for the Left

Sahra Wagenknecht's public appearances have become rare. When her party filed an election complaint in the Bundestag and her internal rival Katja Wolf won a power struggle in Thuringia , the BSW chairwoman stayed away from the big stage. After a strenuous election campaign tailored entirely to her, she withdrew from the media spotlight. Which is understandable.

However, there's still a lot to discuss: What went wrong before the federal election? How long will she lead the party? On Tuesday evening, Wagenknecht finally answered questions fromSandra Maischberger on ARD . And while some social media users accused the public broadcaster of continuing to pay too much attention to the country's best-known party founder, her fan base celebrated her return. So, it's business as usual, right?

When asked about the media abstinence, Wagenknecht succinctly explained that the result of the federal election was a "setback" and that they needed to sit down and analyze their performance. As a reminder, the BSW was about 9,500 votes short of entering parliament. The party is now demanding a nationwide recount. Indeed, there were a number of errors and irregularities in the election – the Berliner Zeitung reported on Wagenknecht's party's bid for votes .

Should the BSW somehow enter parliament, which is highly doubtful, it would likely have far-reaching consequences: The prospective coalition between the CDU/CSU and SPD would likely no longer have a majority, Friedrich Merz would have to find a second partner, and what would the Greens be? Then the minimum wage would be a comparatively minor problem. But it will likely take months, perhaps years, for the Bundestag's Electoral Review Committee to rule on the BSW's complaint. Only then will an appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court be possible.

This is a truly bizarre process – one that has also been criticized by experts such as former constitutional judge Hans-Jürgen Papier . On Maischberger, Sahra Wagenknecht expressed it as follows: It is "questionable" that the Bundestag has to agree to the review of its "foundation of existence." The parliamentary groups, of course, have no interest in doing so.

However, these constitutional concerns are nothing new; the moderator was more interested in an answer to the findings of the analysis of the narrow defeat. The question of guilt. And what does all this have to do with Thuringia?

Wagenknecht: BSW disappointed voters in Thuringia

Last weekend, Wolf, a Thuringian, was re-elected as the state chairwoman of the BSW (Federal Social Welfare Party). Nearly two-thirds of the delegates at a party conference voted for the deputy minister of the state government, despite the fact that the federal executive committee, led by Wagenknecht, had campaigned against Wolf. And despite the fact that the party leadership cited the BSW's compromises in Thuringia as the reason for the outcome of the federal election. A remarkable event that cannot be without consequences: The Wagenknecht camp was defeated within the Wagenknecht party.

In any case, the party leader wanted to make it clear once again on Tuesday that the setback in the election was primarily due to the party leadership in Erfurt. There, the BSW governs jointly with the CDU and SPD , which means that the coalition agreement is not "pure BSW." After Wagenknecht's executive board had publicly criticized the results of the exploratory talks, it finally approved the government plan - probably also in order to start the federal election campaign without internal disputes. Nevertheless, the BSW had lost profile in the autumn, Wagenknecht said on ARD. It is not a question of whether the BSW governs Thuringia. "It is a question of how we govern." The party has not fulfilled some of the promises it was elected for - a different approach to the AfD , the coronavirus investigation, free school lunches. In Thuringia, people are lamenting this time pressure.

Wagenknecht said the federal party had certainly made some mistakes as well – the slow recruitment of members had alienated supporters, and the manageable structures had encouraged "career networks" and "cliques." They wanted to learn from this and now grow faster. But that was the end of the self-criticism.

While the BSW "handled the process of entering the government in Brandenburg quite well," conflicts arose from the outset in Thuringia – "about how strongly the things promised during the election campaign should also play a role in coalition negotiations," said Wagenknecht. Ultimately, the party "disappointed a great many voters" in the Free State, including some who had therefore voted for the AfD again. So the federal leadership wanted a new state leadership. "We wanted a state executive committee that would no longer be an extension of the government, but would critically monitor the government." That didn't quite work out: Deputy Prime Minister Wolf prevailed over a Wagenknecht candidate – only Wolf's previous co-chair, Digital Minister Steffen Schütz, withdrew his candidacy before the party conference.

But he still didn't refrain from criticizing the federal executive board. On her talk show, Sandra Maischberger played a video from the Erfurt party conference in which Schütz complained that the BSW wasn't doing justice to his policies by narrowing the range of opinions within his own party. Wagenknecht then surprisingly said something somewhat appreciative about the Left Party.

The range of opinion within a party is limited because it needs a profile. The Left Party lacked that for a long time, so people didn't know what they were actually voting for. "The Left Party today has a profile," Wagenknecht said. "It's not what I like, but it has one again. So it represents a certain clientele, disappointed Green voters. But it is tangible in what it wants." But what does Wagenknecht's party want? And does it want it equally everywhere? Apparently, even the chairwoman isn't entirely sure. "Nobody will vote for a party that is no longer perceptible to voters because it simply represents completely opposing positions."

Sahra Wagenknecht left it open that evening how long she would continue to lead the BSW. "I won't continue forever," she said. But at least until she has the "stable hope" that "we will then have established a party that will truly survive in this country." She would also resign, however, if the BSW developed in a direction that she could no longer "support." The events in Erfurt indicate which direction she might mean.