The woman who is shaking up German politics

Germany is set to vote on Sunday in two regional elections in the former GDR that promise to be disastrous for Chancellor Olaf Scholtz. The far-right AfD is the clear favorite. But a new party from the radical left could well shake things up, led by a woman with explosive ideas.

Her name is Sarha Wagenknecht, 55 years old. She is the rising political and media figure across the Rhine, difficult to classify on the political spectrum. She combines the two extremes. This former communist mixes right-wing nationalism, anti-migrants, and left-wing socialism on economic and social issues, all without the neo-Nazi overtones of the extreme right.

She represents a conservative left or a “left AfD” as some commentators have called it. In short, she is a free electron but is not unknown in Germany. This excellent communicator has been scouring TV sets for a long time. Sarha Wagenknecht has thus navigated within the radical left parties for 30 years.

On the far right, Sarha Wagenknecht wants to severely limit immigration by, for example, cutting aid to refugees who have been refused asylum, or creating asylum centres outside the European Union. Internationally, even if she intends to remain in Europe and NATO, she wants to end arms deliveries to Ukraine, start negotiations with Moscow and buy cheap Russian gas.

On the far left, this great reader of Marx, admirer of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, advocates for higher minimum wages, better pensions, more money for education and taxes on the richest.

Finally, this ardent defender of thermal cars castigates the ecological policy of the Greens, too punitive, according to her, and incidentally too “woke”.

The BSW, the Alliance for Sarha Wagenknecht, a party that has only existed for seven months, is enjoying dazzling success, especially among voters in the former GDR, who are tempted by the extreme right. The GDR is where she was born, to a German mother and an Iranian father. And it is there, in the East of Germany, that she is achieving her best scores. In the next regional elections next Sunday, in Thuringia and Saxony, the polls credit her with 15 to 20% of the vote. Far behind, however, the 30% attributed to the AfD.

The BSW has now become an essential political force, particularly in its regional strongholds in the former GDR. Sarha Wagenknecht can play the role of referee and block the extreme right. She is not against coalitions with the conservative right. But at the national level, she currently only has 6% of the vote, which is still largely insufficient to become chancellor.