Wagenknecht party in two governments "Ego project of a populist" makes politics in Germany

Barely a year old and already at the cabinet table - the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance is celebrating a major success with its first participations in government. What does this mean for Germany?

Weal and woe depend on her thumb. If it lowers it, coalitions collapse even before they are agreed. If she raises it, her fellow campaigners are allowed to join the government: Sahra Wagenknecht is the highest authority in the BSW. This is hardly surprising, as she is the leader of the party, which also bears her name: "Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht". Addition: "Reason and Justice".

The party was only founded in January 2024: Wagenknecht and her supporters split from the Left Party. After an initial respectable success in the European elections in June (6.2%), the BSW contested state elections in three eastern German states in the fall.

As a newcomer to the political landscape, the party came third in Thuringia (15.8%), Saxony (11.8%) and Brandenburg (13.5%). This means that no majorities can be formed without the BSW, as all parties categorically rule out any cooperation with the AfD, which in some cases is firmly on the far right.

The BSW is a power factor that Germany will have to get used to. "It is regrettable that with the 'Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance' the ego project of a populist whose foreign policy course is likely to please Russian President Vladimir Putin was successful," commented the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper.

Nothing works without her approval

The BSW in government responsibility? Sahra Wagenknecht set conditions for the negotiations in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg. No further arms deliveries to Ukraine, no stationing of US medium-range missiles in Germany, coronavirus recovery.

Foreign policy issues cannot be decided at state level and are not desired by politicians there. Why should differences of opinion about things that cannot be changed jeopardize issues on the ground?

In an interview with Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, the BSW boss nevertheless made it clear that nothing would work without her agreement: "In order to have a strong negotiating position, we have to act in a coordinated manner. And in the end, we will of course also make a coordinated decision: Is it enough or not enough?"

First small uprising against Wagenknecht

In two federal states, it was apparently enough. In Brandenburg, the SPD and BSW presented their coalition agreement on November 27. They now want to make common cause with a narrow majority of two votes. Wagenknecht was pleased that her pacifist approaches were included in the coalition agreement.

The BSW had previously agreed to a coalition with the SPD and CDU in Thuringia. However, the negotiations there did not go so smoothly and were even on the brink of collapse. Wagenknecht was dissatisfied with the first drafts and had made tougher demands, particularly on the issues of war and peace.

But now everything is fine, Wagenknecht gave the thumbs up at the end of last week. Her party's coalition agreement with the CDU and SPD "looks very different from the exploratory paper. And we are very happy about that," she said on the ARD talk show "Maischberger". However, according to her interpretation, there had to be pressure for this.

"Blackberry coalition" without a majority

BSW state leader Katja Wolf did not comment further. She was pleased that the three partners had managed to "put a really good coalition agreement on the table" despite all their differences.

The BSW signature is "clearly recognizable" in the negotiated paper: limiting migration, combating absenteeism in schools, mandatory language tests for pre-school children, a ban on cell phones during core school hours.

Whether everything can be implemented is another matter: the CDU, BSW and SPD have 44 out of 88 seats in the Thuringian parliament. Their "blackberry coalition", named after the party colors, would therefore be dependent on at least one vote from the opposition - i.e. the Left or AfD - for decisions. Nevertheless, the commentators of the "Frankfurter Rundschau" were pleased "that alliances beyond a far-right AfD are possible in difficult constellations".

The BSW buckled in Saxony

In Saxony, however, negotiations with the BSW failed. The CDU and SPD are now aiming for a minority government there. "The fact that Ms. Wagenknecht is putting her Saxon people on the back foot like this is not a good development," commented the visibly contrite Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU). The end had come as a surprise and had been decided by the federal party.

The Saxon state head of the BSW, however, hastened to clarify that the decision to end the negotiations was made in Dresden. However, Sabine Zimmermann admitted that, like other parties, individual positions would be agreed with the federal party. Wagenknecht herself was only informed of the decision after the end of the exploratory talks.

Downward trend in the polls

After a promising start, which - except in Saxony - was more than successful, the first signs of alarm are now mounting for the young party. Three months before the early general election, its poll ratings are falling nationwide. The Forsa Institute recently put the BSW at just 4 percent, half as much as at the beginning of July.

The party founder is outwardly unperturbed by this: "It's nothing new that politics is made with polls. I'm not surprised that Forsa is giving us lousy results right at the start of the parliamentary election campaign."

In other polls, the BSW is at 6 to 8 percent nationwide. Wagenknecht says of the drop in form: "One important reason was that there was a public conflict over the formation of the government in Thuringia."

With agency material.