BSW renames itself: Sahra Wagenknecht disappears from the party name

Nothing actually happened, says Amira Mohamed Ali on the day of the big renaming. She is co-leader of the party, which has separated from the "Sahra Wagenknecht" in the party name, but prefers to keep the abbreviation BSW, which has now been introduced.

Mohamed Ali explains this in relation to founder Wagenknecht: "Because her name is of course associated with a political direction, so it's easier for us to get into the public eye." But that is not a sensible, long-term solution for a party. "And that's why we said from the beginning that when the party was established, we would rename it, and that's happening now."

The step was already decided last December, but in the last state elections in the east they preferred to rely on the name of the best-known party member.

Political scientist Jan Philipp Thomeczek is researching the BSW at the University of Potsdam - now with a new long name. He explains what political offer the Wagenknecht party makes, which from today on is no longer called that. "The BSW has filled a void in the party system. This combination of a more left-wing social policy and a more conservative social policy, especially when it comes to migration," says Thomeczek.

And the party combines this with a foreign policy that is very critical of NATO and advocates for peace in Ukraine at all costs - for example at the expense of Ukrainian territories, says the political scientist. "That's what appeals to people. Then of course Sahra Wagenknecht comes in."

The BSW was successful in the most recent state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, but narrowly failed in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Even greater electoral successes in Brandenburg and Thuringia brought the BSW participation in government and fierce internal disputes about the right political course.

In Thuringia, almost the entire state parliamentary group resigned from the BSW at the beginning of September after massive attempts at interference by the federal party and in particular by Sahra Wagenknecht.

And so it almost sounds like a threat when BSW boss Mohamed Ali says that nothing will change in the future with the influence of party founder Wagenknecht. "We have party committees, party executive boards, state executive boards, decisions are made there. But Sahra will continue to get involved, just like before."

The BSW is unlikely to play a role in the five state elections next year. Voting takes place from Saarland to North Rhine-Westphalia to Lower Saxony in the west - and the BSW has not made the leap to becoming an all-German party, says political scientist Thomeczek.

From the beginning, the BSW was a party that had more potential in East Germany. This was seen last year in the federal election - the BSW won almost 10 percent - as much as the SPD in East Germany, says Thomeczek. "And it has always been a party that has had a difficult time in West Germany because the combination of its positions is not in great demand among voters in West Germany."

But party leader Mohamed Ali remains optimistic - after all, the BSW is a young party. And we know from surveys that the potential is over 20 percent. “So there are many people who can basically imagine voting for us.”

So it's better not to deviate too much from the usual, which is why the change of the party name happened more or less casually. The party leader sums it up like this: "BSW remains BSW and I think it just happens inconspicuously that we rename ourselves."