A left-wing party has gathered in Berlin for its federal party convention on Saturday, with the goal of setting the course for a return to the parliament in the February federal election. Currently, the party is polling between three and four percent, and the gap to the five-percent hurdle will be bridged in the remaining five weeks primarily through social issues.
Central themes of the election program, to be decided on at the party convention, include affordable rents and reduced living costs. The party also envisions the abolition of the value-added tax on basic foodstuffs, public transportation, and hygiene articles. A nationwide rent cap is planned to lower housing costs. In reducing energy prices, a “wealthy people’s energy soli” is proposed, a temporary surcharge on income, wage, and capital gains tax. Furthermore, the program demands the re-introduction of a wealth tax and a wealth surcharge for the richest 0.7 percent.
If the party fails to clear the five-percent hurdle, it is pinning its hopes on well-known faces. The “Mission Silver Lock” involves experienced Left Party politicians Bodo Ramelow, Gregor Gysi, and Dietmar Bartsch winning their direct mandates in their electoral districts. Through the basic mandate clause, the Left Party could then enter the Bundestag in full faction strength. This rule has already helped the party, as it did in the 2021 election, when it narrowly missed the five-percent hurdle but won the direct mandates of Gysi, Sören Pellmann, and Gesine Lötzsch.