Despite the fact that Germany’s new political party conceived by lawmaker Sahra Wagenknecht has yet to become official, it has already overtaken a member of the ruling coalition government in a poll.
Around 14 percent of Germans are ready to vote for the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance - For Reason and Justice (BSW), according to a poll commissioned by Bild am Sonntag and cited in media reports.
Screenshot of results of poll on popularity ranking of Germany's political parties commissioned by Bild am Sonntag.
© Photo : Bild am Sonntag
Two surveys were carried out, one specifically featuring the party that BSW is preparing to found officially next January, and another one omitting it to assess which of Germany’s political parties might hemorrhage support once this new rival enters the fray.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party is only one percentage point ahead of Wagenknecht’s brainchild, one of the polls showed, and two other members of the ruling coalition - the Green Party and the Free Democrats - lag behind at 12 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
As to which party is likely to lose the most voters to the new political alliance, the survey indicated it would be the right-wing Alternative for Germany Party (AfD).
Although the poll omitting Wagenknecht’s alliance showed AfD garnering 21 percent of the votes, the poll that included BSW showed some 4 percent of German voters abandoning AfD, according to the survey.
These figures place the “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht–For Reason and Justice” in fourth place.
Wagenknecht, known for her vociferous criticism of Germany's military aid to the Kiev regime and sanctions targeting Russia, announced on 23 October, at the first press conference of the new political alliance, that she had abandoned The Left party and intended to found a new political party with several close associates that stands for "reason and justice".
The former parliamentary leader of The Left, Amira Mohamed Ali, was elected chairwoman of the new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance - For Reason and Justice, which already has 10 lawmakers who also abandoned The Left.
Wagenknecht, who did not mince her words when she described Germany's government as the "worst" in its history, emphasized that it "acted without a plan, is short-sighted and sometimes totally incompetent".
"We need to return to political sanity, and this applies first and foremost to our economic policy. Germany is a country that is poor in raw materials but rich in exports. A large part of our wellbeing depends on high industrial added value. But with the economic sanctions [against Russia] we have cut ourselves off from cheap energy resources without any viable alternatives," Wagenknecht said.
She has therefore voiced her belief that Germany needs a party that would consistently stand for diplomacy and settling conflicts at the negotiating table.