Nothing much happens at the summer festival. Even in Brandenburg, the Left Party is threatened with falling below the 5% threshold (Potsdam, 24 August 2024)
In Sunday’s state elections, they want Die Linke to achieve the feat of winning in the Märkisch-Oderland II constituency, east of Berlin, which includes the city of Strausberg. Why do you think this is possible? Your party has already lost a lot of votes in the constituency in 2019, and the national average in current polls is below 5%.
I won this constituency four times. The first time was in 1999 when no one thought the PDS would win here. The most recent time, in 2014, we lost a lot of votes in the state elections because the government tried its best but did not do its best. People who voted for another party the second time always voted for me. If you compare 2014 and 2019, when I did not run, with 2024, you will notice that there is no real campaign atmosphere in the region this time. There are posters, but there are hardly any public debates or election forums, which have always existed in the past. However, we held our own events, which were very well attended. For six weeks, we stood here and there with a small information booth, and most of us had a good conversation. However, some of the actors have already given up and seem to think that the AfD is marching here. I would like to make a suggestion to all voters who do not want to accept this while running, and who vote tactically. Especially to those who want to choose peace and justice, but not to vote for the Left in the second round, but to vote for the BSW.
Are there any signs from other parties that they are supporting your candidacy in order to prevent the AfD from succeeding?
No. There was discussion and suggestion that the Left and the Greens should not put forward any candidates to support the SPD candidate. What I can tell you is, if there is no direct opposition proposal among the candidates other than the right-wing candidate, what kind of result do you actually expect? This is not acceptable to me.
Strausberg is the Bundeswehr position. Is this a campaign issue?
Yes. Here you can see what it means for a country to be ready for war. You can see that a lot of investment is being made in the assets of the Bundeswehr. On the other hand, people know that in Strausberg for 20 years there has been a shortage of kindergarten places, that school classes are too full and that there are not enough teachers. Healthcare is becoming increasingly difficult, and public transport is becoming worse. Our party has always fought against these developments. The fact that the trams in Strausberg still run and that the energy supply is in the hands of the municipality is the result of the efforts of the PDS in the 1990s. The fact that we have a city hospital is mainly due to the cooperation of the hardliners in the district council and the SPD.
Will political parties be able to campaign in local elections like they used to? I’ve heard here and there that some district coalitions in the East are no longer able to campaign.
Our regional association has to cover four state parliamentary constituencies. It’s quite a challenge. But I got a lot of support from the regional association and the Bundestag group. Sören Pellmann and Heidi Reichennek were there too.
Ultimately, whether the party will return to the state parliament may depend on this direct mandate. Twenty years ago, the PDS in Brandenburg was at almost 30%. How do you explain this decline?
Comrades who are campaigning with me agree that the party must become visible again in people’s everyday lives. Above all, we must once again become the address for those who wish to express their opposition to the state and federal governments. This has rarely happened in recent times. We are also no longer the address for those interested in a comprehensive peace movement. We must agree on how to develop a political culture and political practice that will make us credible again as a left opposition party.
