The leaders of Germany’s struggling Die Linke said on Sunday that they will not run for re-election at the party’s October congress.
Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan, who have jointly led the party since 2022, confirmed in statements on the party’s website that they will not run for re-election.
The move follows a series of election defeats and mounting criticism of the two leaders.
The far-left party, known in Germany as Die Linke, has been in crisis since the departure of a prominent former member and a subsequent decline in support.
“I realize that there is a need for a fresh start in parts of the party in terms of personnel,” Wissler said in her statement. “I think now is the right time to provide clarity, two months before the party congress, so that the party has enough time for a transparent process and to form an opinion about candidates within the party.”
The decision was taken a day after the party leadership acknowledged in its main motion to the congress in October that the party “is undoubtedly in a dangerous, existentially threatening situation”.
In the last Bundestag elections in 2021, the party won only 4.9% of the vote, below the 5% threshold needed to enter the chamber.
It was only thanks to a special rule that favoured small parties that won at least three direct mandates that an official group could be formed.
The German Left Party has been in decline for years, but has been losing support again since popular former member Sahra Wagenknecht left the party over her anti-immigration views and founded her Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) in 2023.
In early June, the Left Party won only 2.7% of the votes in the European Parliament elections.
In his statement, Schirdewan called on party members to unite.
“Give those who will soon take over the helm the opportunity and the confidence to lead the party. This requires an end to the sometimes destructive power politics within our own ranks,” he said.
The leaders made their move on the eve of key elections in the eastern German states of Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg in September, where Die Linke is falling in the polls.
Another bad result would be disastrous for the party, which has its roots in the communist party that governed East Germany until reunification in 1990 and has since drawn support mainly from the eastern regions.
