Left state executive supports Eva von Angern's candidacy in the prime ministerial election

The Left in Saxony-Anhalt wants to support parliamentary group leader Eva von Angern as its own candidate in the prime ministerial election in December. The state executive committee spoke in favor of it, as the party announced. The state parliamentary group is expected to make the final decision this Tuesday.

According to the party, von Angern should run in the first two rounds of voting. She had previously considered running for the first round of elections. With its own candidate, the Left wants to show a political alternative to the AfD.

The AfD has 39 of the 83 seats in the new state parliament, the Left has eight. In the first two rounds of voting, a candidate needs at least 42 votes. In the third round, the majority of votes cast is sufficient. The SPD parliamentary group leader Katja Pähle had previously warned that the Left's own candidacy could help the AfD in this election round.

In an Instagram video on Monday, von Angern and her party colleagues reaffirmed their will to resist a possible state government led by the AfD. “The extreme right is reaching for power,” wrote the Saxony-Anhalt left-wing parliamentary group. "One thing is clear: We are not leaving the field to them. We were, are and remain the red line. We have been in resistance against a right-wing extremist government from the very first second. Because it's about everything. Antifascism is now!"

“Saxony-Anhalt deserves more than a right-wing extremist government that wants to stay in the past,” added von Angern. “We stand for an affordable life and a positive future, without division!” An open society does not defend itself, explains the left-wing politician in the video. “It needs people who get involved, support those affected and, if necessary, defend themselves against state arbitrariness.”