Sahra Wagenknecht calls three BSW departures in Thuringia a “nasty game”

Sahra Wagenknecht has described the departure of three BSW lawmakers in Thuringia as an attempt to damage the party before an upcoming state election in Saxony-Anhalt. “The goal of these departures is to harm us,” Wagenknecht told the dpa news agency during a campaign appearance in Halle.

She said she had long suspected that some of the departing members were closer to the CDU than to the BSW. Wagenknecht said she hoped voters would see through “this nasty game” and recognize that the situation in Thuringia was also being clarified.

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The goal of these departures is to harm us.

Wagenknecht called the turmoil typical of “very young parties.” The Greens and the AfD, she said, had also initially sent “chaos troops” into parliaments, while the BSW remained relatively stable by comparison. She acknowledged, however, that “in Thuringia, we made major mistakes, and that also cost us a great deal of credibility.” She added that Thuringia represented only one of Germany’s 16 states.

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this nasty game

The three lawmakers, Stefan Wogawa, Dirk Hoffmeister and Roberto Kobelt, left the BSW parliamentary group and party on Wednesday. They said they were protesting interference by the federal party leadership. Their departures reduced the faction of the governing party from 15 to 12 members.

The dispute centers on the BSW’s participation in Thuringia’s so-called Blackberry Coalition with the CDU and SPD, as well as a policy shift demanded by the national leadership. The party leadership urged its Thuringian lawmakers to stop supporting state Premier Mario Voigt of the CDU and leave the government. A special party congress is expected to address the conflict. Wagenknecht has opposed the government role for some time and favors an “nonpartisan” premier governing through changing majorities that include the AfD.

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In Thuringia, we made major mistakes, and that also cost us a great deal of credibility.