Left party sees narrow state parliament entry as last chance

The state leader of the Left Party, Susanne Schaper, sees the narrow entry into the state parliament as a last chance for her party. "We have been given one last chance - and we must seize it," she said the day after the election in Dresden. The federal party needed a fresh start.

The Left Party only made it into the state parliament by winning two direct mandates in Leipzig, despite missing the five percent threshold. The basic mandate clause - a special feature of Saxony's electoral law - means that the Left Party will have six seats in the new state parliament.

Schaper called for a fresh start for the Left Party at national level. The situation in the party as a whole is serious and the election result is "by and large a catastrophe". What was needed was a structural, programmatic and personnel reboot in the federal party, said Schaper.