Party founder Sahra Wagenknecht hopes for strong performance in state elections

Party founder Sahra Wagenknecht is hoping for a strong showing with her new alliance in the state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg this fall. In all three eastern German states, the new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) wants to put forward candidates who could also accompany a "possible government participation", said the ex-left politician Wagenknecht on Friday at a talk round of the online portal "VierNull.de" in Düsseldorf. The BSW must be able to form competent parliamentary groups "that can support a governing party in case of doubt". According to Wagenknecht, the BSW believes it has a particularly good chance in Thuringia and Saxony.

According to the latest polls, the AfD could become the strongest party in the elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, in some cases by a considerable margin, and receive more than 30 percent of the vote. However, Wagenknecht later said on the sidelines of the event when asked whether the BSW would govern together with the AfD. Especially in the east, the AfD has a strong right-wing extremist wing with which cooperation is not possible.

Since founding the party, she has received "many nice reactions", said 54-year-old Wagenknecht. She has been approached by many people on the street. "I notice that there is a lot of hope in the new party."

Wagenknecht hopes to win over AfD voters who are neither right-wing nor radical right-wing, but who have become "angry, disappointed and politically homeless". SPD voters should also be given a "political address" again in the BSW.

The BSW was formed as a party on Monday. Member of the Bundestag Wagenknecht was elected chairperson in a dual leadership with the former head of the left-wing parliamentary group, Amira Mohamed Ali.