BSW rift raises questions over the future of its parliamentary group

The AfD wants to strip the BSW faction in Thuringia’s state parliament of its status after most of its lawmakers announced that they were leaving the party. The AfD also asked for the funding allocated to parliamentary factions to carry out their constitutional duties to be withdrawn.

State Parliament President Thadäus König said the administration was already examining whether the BSW could continue receiving faction funding. But he also stressed: “The faction has not been dissolved.” Payments would stop if the group lost its entitlement, he said. The future of the faction now remains open.

Ten of the 12 lawmakers currently in the BSW faction have declared their departure from the party following an ongoing dispute with its national leadership. Only Anke Wirsing and Sven Küntzel remain party members, and they are regarded as the only representatives of party founder Sahra Wagenknecht’s camp.

The faction’s former leader, Sigrid Hupach, said the remaining members would meet next week to discuss their way forward. Wirsing has already said she does not want to continue working in one faction with her former party colleagues. She expects to sit without a faction and believes the 10 departing lawmakers could form a new faction.

Thuringia requires at least five lawmakers to form a faction. Smaller groupings can receive parliamentary group status if their members belong to the same party or list and do not share political homogeneity with an existing faction. Faction status brings more funding and parliamentary rights, including the exclusive right to seek a no-confidence vote against the minister-president.

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The faction has not been dissolved.