Wagenknecht sees the departures of BSW MPs as an attempt to cause damage

Sahra Wagenknecht has seen the resignations of three Thuringian BSW MPs as an attempt to damage her party before the upcoming election in Saxony-Anhalt. “The aim of these resignations is to harm us,” Wagenknecht told the dpa news agency on the sidelines of an election campaign appearance in Halle (Saale).

Wagenknecht said she had long had the impression among some of the members who had left that they were closer to the CDU than to the BSW. She hopes that voters will see through “this lousy game” and at the same time see “that clarification is now taking place in Thuringia.”

Wagenknecht described the problems as typical of “very young parties.” The Greens and the AfD also initially sent “chaos troops” into parliament. In comparison, the BSW is relatively stable. But the party leader admitted: "We made big mistakes in Thuringia, which also cost us a lot of credibility." Nevertheless, Thuringia is only one state association of 16, she said.

A dispute over direction has been raging in the BSW for a long time

However, the Thuringian regional association is also the only one in Germany that has government responsibility. On Wednesday, the three BSW MPs Stefan Wogawa, Dirk Hoffmeister and Roberto Kobelt left the state parliamentary group and the party in Thuringia. This means that the group of the co-ruling party will shrink from 15 to twelve members.

The MPs justified their resignation by protesting against the interference of the federal party around Sahra Wagenknecht. The background is a dispute over direction. This is about the BSW's participation in the so-called blackberry coalition with the CDU and SPD as well as a change of course in Thuringia demanded by the federal leadership. The party leadership had asked its Thuringian MPs to stop supporting Thuringian Prime Minister Mario Voigt (CDU) and to leave the government. A special party conference should clarify the conflict.

The dispute initially focused on BSW party founder Sahra Wagenknecht and the Thuringian state leader and finance minister Katja Wolf. Wagenknecht has long disliked government participation in Thuringia. Instead, it represents the model of a "non-partisan" head of government who should govern with changing majorities, including the AfD.

The reason for the dispute is the revocation of Prime Minister Voigt's doctorate, which he is legally defending himself against. The BSW federal leadership around Wagenknecht accused the CDU politician of damaging the office of Prime Minister and called on him to resign. The BSW would “not make itself the majority procurer of a man who puts his personal interests above the well-being of the country,” it said in a board resolution.