The fledgling BSW (Basisverband sozialistischer Studien) party is grappling with the fallout from a tumultuous period in Brandenburg, marked by internal discord and a fragile coalition government. Sahra Wagenknecht, the party’s co-founder, has publicly acknowledged strategic missteps in the past, particularly concerning the contentious Medienstaatsverträge (media state treaties).
Speaking to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND), Wagenknecht attributed the oversight to the party’s relative youth and the absence of established infrastructure. “With the media state treaties, for example, we should have voiced our concerns earlier” she stated. “The issue simply didn’t register with us initially, given that we are a young party and lack the established advisory apparatus that functions within established parties. Normally, a parliamentary advisor would have drafted a paper and Robert Crumbach would have taken it into the Brandenburg cabinet”. This admission underscores a significant challenge facing BSW – the difficulty of competing with established parties possessing decades of experience and institutional support.
The Brandenburg coalition government, a partnership between the SPD (Social Democratic Party) and BSW, currently faces significant instability. Four lawmakers recently defected from the party, triggering a crisis that threatens to collapse the alliance. While Wagenknecht expresses optimism about the coalition’s survival and a potential resolution with the dissenting lawmakers, she emphasizes the importance of local dialogue, advocating against immediate exclusion from the parliamentary group. “The departures of the four state parliamentarians in Brandenburg are regrettable, but that won’t dismantle the BSW anytime soon” she remarked.
Looking to the future, Wagenknecht has announced she will not seek re-election as party leader at the BSW’s upcoming party conference in Magdeburg. Instead, she intends to focus on strategic party development as the chairwoman of a newly established “fundamental values commission”. This shift suggests a potential recalibration of the party’s strategy and a move towards a more advisory role for its prominent figure, while simultaneously addressing ongoing questions about leadership succession and internal power dynamics within the BSW. The upcoming vote in the Brandenburg state parliament on the media state treaties remains a critical test for the fragile alliance and a focal point for the unfolding political drama.