In the state elections, the North Rhine-Westphalian left fell to the brink of insignificance. Now a large part of the board wants to retire. The reason is also the ongoing dispute of the party at federal level.
Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The North Rhine-Westphalian left is looking for a new dual leadership and has to re-elect a large part of the board. The state spokesmen Nina Eumann and Jules El-Khatib will not appear again at the party conference on Saturday and Sunday in Kamen. Just under a week before the party conference, there were only two written applications for the speaker posts on Monday - from two men. A woman initially did not apply.
A total of 13 out of 22 members of the state executive board do not want to run again. They had announced their withdrawal because of the ongoing dispute in the left and in a joint statement raised serious allegations against the federal leadership of the party.
NRW state spokesman El-Khatib (31) was co-chairman of the NRW left for just under a year. "It doesn't have to be a goodbye forever," he told the German Press Agency. After a total of eight years on the state board, he needs a break and wants to face new challenges.
At the same time, he emphasized: "These calls for division bother me. I stood up for a pluralistic left and with a clear profile." Together with his co-spokeswoman Eumann, he had always tried to "combine different currents and approaches," said the sociologist. Eumann explained that she would not run again because she was very busy with her job and family.
The left only got 2.1 percent in the state elections and again clearly missed entering the state parliament. "We see it in all western state associations that we are heavily dependent on the national trend," said El-Khatib. "He's not playing along at the moment, although there are good approaches, such as the social protests that focus on social needs. But our image is clouded too much by disputes."
The NRW-Linke had to cope with a wave of resignations in the first half of the year. The number of members was a good 8,120 at the beginning of July. In the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the party leadership had spoken out in favor of a negotiated solution. The left is also critical of Western sanctions against Russia.
The party is also burdened by an ongoing dispute over statements by the former parliamentary group leader Sahra Wagenknecht. After a speech on Ukraine policy in the Bundestag in September, she also sparked fierce opposition within the party. The NRW state association, on the other hand, stood by Wagenknecht, who is a member there and was the top candidate for the 2021 federal election.
The businessman and cabaret artist Mehmet Sencan and Sascha H. Wagner declared their candidacies as successors to El-Khatib. Wagner is the parliamentary group manager for the left in the city council of Oberhausen and was the state manager of the North Rhine-Westphalia Left Party for several years.
