Germany’s snap election in February has gained another wild card after the left-conservative BSW alliance of Sahra Wagenknecht agreed coalition deals in two eastern states.
Nine months after its official foundation the untested BSW will share power in Brandenburg and Thuringia after attracting significant support with demands for diplomatic talks to end Russia’s war with Ukraine and a cut to irregular immigration.
These priorities are reflected in Brandenburg’s coalition deal, where the BSW finished third on 13.5 per cent and will support the centre-left Social Democratic Party and its incumbent minister president Dietmar Woidke. He agreed to a BSW demand for Brandenburg to “promote a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine and the reduction of the associated tensions within Europe through negotiations with the parties to the conflict”.
The government in Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin, has come out against the stationing of US medium-range and hypersonic missiles on German territory. These positions, though federal and not state competences, also feature in the coalition deal in Thuringia. The BSW here won 15.8 per cent in September, and will share power in a coalition with the SPD and led by the centre-right Christian Democratic Union.
The Thuringian deal notes public opposition to new missile bases in Germany but, rather than outright rejection, promises a “broad debate” on the issue.
The three parties failed to fully agree on the causes and consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine and the need to supply Ukraine with arms – with the BSW opposed. “But we are united by the goal of promoting a diplomatic solution to the war,” the agreement continues.
Across the border Saxony is headed for an unprecedented CDU-led minority government after disagreements on peace and migration issues saw the BSW walk out of coalition talks.
Until now party founder Sahra Wagenknecht hoped to use the state elections to build momentum for the federal election, scheduled for next September. Now BSW officials admit they have been caught off guard by the collapse of Berlin’s federal coalition, and a planned snap election seven months early in February.
The BSW is still fundraising and building up regional structures, and is far less popular at federal level than in Dr Wagenknecht’s native eastern states.
Her public clashes with BSW regional leaders during coalition talks has seen support for the party slump in federal polls to between 4 per cent and 7 per cent – down from 14 per cent earlier this year.
Ahead of the February election Dr Wagenknecht has suggested her party would support a technocratic Bundestag government to work through the country’s large-scale reform and investment backlog. “After the election,” she said, “Germany needs a cabinet of experts: a government of experts made up of people of integrity, expertise and incorruptibility.”
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