Campact's tactical vote campaign: The Left Party's criticism is exaggerated, but justified

Admittedly, the words that various left-wing leaders are currently using to criticize the campaign organization Campact are partly wrong. Bodo Ramelow wrote on Twitter that Campact is “nothing less than a willing, but not entirely cheap, preliminary organization” of the Greens. MP Lea Reisner even tops that. Reisner explains that she “hates” Campact and that it is wrong when “Berlin hipsters pump thousands of euros into election campaigns in the East.”

Nevertheless, the Left's criticism of a renewed Campact call in the state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to vote “strategically” is correct. For Campact, “voting strategically” more or less means voting for the Greens. The organization is spending 150,000 euros on the campaign, which is aimed at voters from the Left Party and the SPD. The aim is for the Greens to securely enter the state parliament and thus strengthen the democratic camp there.

However, the left is often wrong in their concrete arguments. For example, if they reject strategic voting entirely. Because it can make sense if progressive parties come to an agreement to prevent the AfD from winning. It is also unfair to assume that Campact is only interested in the Greens being successful. For example, in the 2024 state elections in Saxony, the non-governmental organization also supported the Left Party - which the Left Party had already criticized at the time.

The taz is an independent, left-wing and opinionated daily newspaper. We have been arguing in our comments, essays and debate texts since the taz was founded in 1979. We often cannot and do not want to agree on an opinion. That's why you'll find some completely opposing positions here - all part of the very broad left-wing spectrum of opinions.

What is problematic, however, is the short-sightedness of the strategy behind the Campact election call. Because it is limited to the fact that the democratic parties should stick together against the AfD. Of course, if in doubt, they have to do that. But if anti-fascist politics is reduced to just being against the AfD, it is already conceptually doomed to failure. Then anti-fascist politics only consists of strategically and optimally distributing the ever-shrinking voting shares of the democratic camp.

The question of why people are constantly breaking away from “democracy” is completely overlooked. Anyone who asks this question will inevitably come across social cuts and austerity policies, massive rearmament and the failure to protect the climate. This neoliberal policy is the structural basis for the AfD's racism - and the Greens have always supported this policy in government responsibility in recent years. The party is therefore not being completely unfairly punished in the East.

Keeping it artificially alive with the votes of a party that can at least approximately represent a credible social opposition is problematic. This may have been justifiable in Saxony-Anhalt, as the AfD was threatened with an absolute majority here. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, however, the AfD has no real option for power.