Left | Rejoice before the storm

Holding the flag high: Left state board member Ruben Lehnert in the Karl-Liebknecht-Haus Photo: dpa/Fabian Sommer The Berlin Left Party can hardly run with strength at the moment. It became clear in the weeks before the election that the Left had a good chance of emerging as the strongest force at the end of the House of Representatives election last Sunday. The fact that the predicted head-to-head race with the CDU ultimately turned into a clear victory surprised many even in the party. "I would never have expected it," said a candidate from the party to "nd" on Monday about his surprising success in a Spandau constituency - a sentence that several newly elected members of the left-wing faction in the House of Representatives would probably agree with.

The mood in the party is correspondingly euphoric - even the scandal surrounding the appearances of an organized crime figure and a terrorist supporter on election evening can do little to change this. It became clear in the days after the election that the party leadership wanted to take advantage of the mood to push for the rapid formation of a government. On Monday, the state executive board decided by a large majority to schedule explorations with the SPD and the Greens. The state chairmen Kerstin Wolter and Maximilian Schirmer were quoted as saying in a press release that they accepted the government mandate “full of humility and anticipation.”

The efforts to portray oneself as absolutely willing to govern should under no circumstances be put at a damper. The party wants to meet for a state party conference on Friday. The unusually early meeting serves to take the wind out of the sails of government opponents in their own ranks. Even before the election, the party had decided to hold two party conferences after the elections - the one now scheduled for Friday and another after the exploratory discussions have been completed, which should give the go-ahead for coalition negotiations. In addition, the base should also vote on the coalition agreement. This participation, according to the calculation, should also make the election campaign palatable to government opponents.

“A large majority” is now expected for the party conference, as a member of the state executive committee told “nd”. It is unclear how many government opponents there are in the party. “The whole of the party” represents a government claim, promised top candidate Elif Eralp a few days before the election. "It may be that there are individual voices that see it differently, but that is of no greater relevance," she said nonchalantly about those who would disagree.

In fact, that might be an understatement. The Solid youth association in particular has taken a prominent stand against government participation. “We believe the renewed focus on government participation with the SPD and the Greens is wrong,” says a statement on the youth association’s website. Asya Șenyüz, an active member of the youth association, will also be a member of the House of Representatives.

The political relevance of the Left Youth is limited, but the rebellious young people have succeeded in the past in at least forcing the party to compromise on the government issue. A resolution initiated by the Left Youth at the state party conference in May 2025 obliged top officials “not to make any public predetermination of government participation.” This was deliberately ignored during the election campaign.

There are many government opponents in the Left Party, but they will probably exercise strategic restraint before the explorations.

The Neukölln district association, the stronghold of the Fundis, held back after the election. “We are overwhelmed by this collective success,” spokeswoman Jorinde Schulz is quoted as saying in a press release. A position on the government issue was avoided. Strategically, one could wait for the results of the explorations - and the expected disappointment over cuts in the content of the government program - before opening the debate.

Another eternal bone of contention also threatens to quarrel. During the election campaign, the party leadership was able to pacify the dispute over the direction of the Middle East for a long time. Even cross-shots from Neukölln did little to change this, where in the final stretch of the election campaign a rapper called for an “intifada like the PFLP” at a party event. The PFLP is a militant group responsible for dozens of terrorist attacks in Israel with hundreds of civilian casualties. Top candidate Elif Eralp immediately distanced herself.

Bruns is one of the more present representatives of the state working group for Palestine Solidarity within the party. She ran for office on the Left Party's North Rhine-Westphalia state list in 2017, but left the party shortly afterwards. At times she was active in the Maoist group “Youth Resistance”. An interview with the magazine “Vice” also dates from this time, in which she calls for a “people’s war.”

Since rejoining Die Linke - this time in the Berlin district association Reinickendorf - she has been providing reasons for exclusion on an assembly line, preferably in front of television cameras. "I won't distance myself from anything," she said when asked by an ARD reporter about the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023. "But we also won't distance ourselves from other forces that are waging a justified fight against the Israeli colonial regime," she added. In November 2025 she took part in an occupation of the Left federal headquarters.

That's not wrong. When Bruns ran for the state committee at the Left state party conference in April, she failed, but was still able to convince 37 percent of the delegates. It is unclear whether Bruns' supporters will keep their feet still on Friday. "We as LAG Palestine Solidarity are of course in solidarity with our comrade Hannah Bruns and reserve the right to demand this solidarity at various levels," a spokesman replies to the "nd" question as to whether they are planning anything for the party conference. According to the statutes, at an extraordinary party conference, only motions and debates on the occasion - i.e. the exploratory events - are possible.

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