Germany. Who is Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of BSW?

According to survey ZDF television exit poll in Thuringia Alternative for German (AfD) could win 33.2 percent of the votes (in 2019 it won 24.5 percent), and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 24.5 percent. The populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BWF) could win 14.5 percent. The Left Party received 11.5 percent, and Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) – 6.5 percent of the votes. The Greens and FDP obtained results below the 5 percent electoral threshold.

The exit poll by broadcaster ZDF shows that the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has won narrowly in Saxony, ahead of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) by half a percentage point. The CDU can count on 32.1 percent of support, and the AfD on 31.5 percent of the votes. Here, too, the Sara Wagenknecht Alliance came in third with 11.5 percent. The SPD received 7.8 percent of support, and the Greens 5.2 percent. The Left, with 4.5 percent of the votes, fell below the 5 percent electoral threshold.

READ MORE: Elections in Thuringia and Saxony. Exit poll results

The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance – Reason and Justice (BSW) party was founded in January. Its leader was born in 1969 in Jena, Thuringia. In the 1990s, she studied philosophy and German literature, and in 2012 she obtained a doctorate in economics, as we read on the Bundestag website. In 1989, Wagenknecht joined the communist Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). This was the party that governed the German Democratic Republic until that country disappeared from the map of Europe.

After German reunification, Wagenknecht joined the PDS, which had succeeded the SED, and served on its state board from 1991 to 1995 and from 2000 to 2007. After the merger of Die Linkspartei.PDS (the successor to the PDS) and the Electoral Alternative for Work and Social Justice in 2007 under the banner of The Left (Die Linke), Wagenknecht joined the newly founded party. She held important positions in it, as deputy chairwoman of the party (2010 to 2014) and member of its program committee (2007 to 2010). Since 2009, Wagenknecht has been a member of the Bundestag.

Wagenknecht was called the “red Sahra”, as well as the “Madonna of neo-communism”, “Rosa Luxemburg of the Berlin Republic” and “Stalin's apologist”. She was described as a representative of the radical ultra-left wing of the party, skeptical of cooperation with the SPD and in opposition to the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany. For many years she belonged to the radical structure of the party “communist platform”.

She sometimes expressed longing for the GDR. She refused to call it a dictatorship.

In 2023, she left the Left and founded her own party in January 2024. “BSW offers a mix of far-right policies (on migration and culture) and far-left policies (on social spending) with a touch of anti-Americanism and pro-Russian sympathies,” is how The Economist describes the party.

BSW supports the expansion of social benefits, which would be financed primarily by wealthier citizens. The party's program also includes limiting illegal migration.

“Wagenknecht blames NATO more than Russian President Vladimir Putin for the war in Ukraine,” writes The Economist. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine regularly criticized Western sanctions against Russiarecalled the Kremlin's nuclear threats, and also advocated for cutting off arms deliveries to Kiev and starting peace talks with Moscow. In February last year, she called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to “stop the escalation” that – in her opinion – arms deliveries to Ukraine are causing.

Sahra Wagenknecht is 55 years old. She is the daughter of a German mother and an Iranian father. She never knew her father – he lived in West Berlin and returned to Iranwhen she was three years old. Sahra was raised by her grandparents in the countryside near Jena, then moved to East Berlin.

She is divorced. In 2014, she married Oskar Lafontaine, now 80, co-founder of the Left and finance minister in Gerhard Schroeder's government.

With a PhD in economics, she is the author of several books.

The Economist calls Wagenknecht “Germany's most glamorous and enigmatic contemporary politician – and the most polarizing.”

“She has been a TV talk show star for years – criticizing Angela Merkel's 'welcome culture' towards migrants, the government's actions in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and now also support for Ukraine,” writes The Economist.

Prof. Raj Kollmorgen from the University of Applied Sciences Zittau-Goerlitz BSW Sahra Wagenknecht calls “a credible alternative to the ruling coalition groups” that addresses the problems of Germans from the east. “The alliance is not only an alternative to the AfD, but also to the Left, the (social democratic) SPD or the Greens, on exactly three issues that are the main problem areas and provoke criticism from many Germans from the eastern part of the country,” he said. First, there is the general political situation in Germany. BSW claims that “(as a country) we are incredibly badly governed and we really do have a systemic problem; we do not want to abolish democracy under any circumstances, we want to return to its national-state core.” The second area is the “migration crisis.” “BSW claims: “Yes, there is a migration crisis; it can only be solved if we significantly reduce migration.” This is in line with the views of many eastern Germans,” the professor emphasized. The last problem area is war in Ukraine and in this aspect too, BSW reflects the beliefs of many East Germans – assessed Kollmorgen, summarizing the party's position as “the war is terrible, but we also understand the Russians; we need more diplomacy and fewer weapons”.

– Next to the AfD, only the BSW seems to be a credible, recognizable and effective alternative to the ruling parties (SPD, the Greens and the liberal FDP – editor's note). That is why a wave of sympathy for Sahra Wagenknecht's Alliance has appeared in the eastern federal states of Germany. On the other hand, the ruling parties, and in many matters (including the opposition Christian Democrats) the CDU, are perceived as incapable of learning (from their own mistakes – editor's note) – Kollmorgen noted. All this – he added – makes the parties of the ruling coalition unelectable for a large group of residents of the eastern part of the country. The expert assessed that the BSW presents itself not only as a political “savior”, which the AfD also does, but also as an alternative to this far-right party. – Many Germans do not want to vote for the AfD because for them it is too right-wing, right-wing extremist, and its social policy is “from yesterday” – he noted.

After the announcement exit poll resultsWagenknecht ruled out cooperation with the AfD in Thuringia under the leadership of Bjoern Hoecke. – Mr. Hoecke represents the worldview of the volkisch (far-right ideological current – editor's note), which is miles away from us (…) We have always said that we cannot work with Mr. Hoecke – Wagenknecht told ARD television.

Wagenknecht hopes that the BSW will be able to form a good government in Thuringia together with the CDU and – according to current data – also the SPD. The views of her party will certainly be an obstacle. However, the CDU and SPD have no other option than to reach an agreement with the BSW in order to prevent the AfD from coming to power.