Pellmann and Reichinnek lead the Left in the Bundestag

In future, MPs Sören Pellmann and Heidi Reichinnek will lead the Left Party group in the Bundestag. The members elected the new dual leadership on Monday at a closed meeting in Berlin - albeit with very close results in two competitive votes. For party chairmen Martin Schirdewan and Janine Wissler, this is a setback - they had hoped for a consensual solution with broad majorities.

Schirdewan nevertheless said afterwards: "What we had here today was an honest debate." The group had made its decision as it had done. Now the common interest is the priority. The Left Party should become strong again and return to parliament as a parliamentary group after the 2025 federal elections. Wissler expressed a similar view.

Reichinnek and Pellmann assured that they were pulling in the same direction. "We don't have that many chances and we can only do it together," said Pellmann. He wanted to build bridges.

Successor to Bartsch

The Left Party is in crisis following the split of Sahra Wagenknecht's wing. In nationwide polls, it currently only achieves three to four percent. Long-time parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch had announced his intention to retire from the front row after decades in high party offices.

Member of parliament Clara Bünger and Left Party national managing director Ates Gürpinar had also applied to succeed him. Gürpinar withdrew during the proceedings on Monday. Bünger was defeated in two rounds of voting by both Reichinnek and Pellmann by 13 to 14. The group has 28 members, but MP Petra Pau was unable to take part in the vote due to an injury. MP Christian Görke was elected as the first Parliamentary Secretary.

Small group, but still divided

Although the Left Group is small, it is divided over its future direction. There is also a traditional rift between the Left in the Bundestag and the party leadership. All of this was also evident in the vote.

Reichinnek and Pellmann were defeated by Wissler and Schirdewan in the race for the party chairmanship in 2022. Now they have joined forces as a duo and formulated their top issues in a thesis paper: Redistribution, "good work", peace. Bünger and Gürpinar are closer to the party leadership, but did not make the cut.

Apart from the internal wrangling, the new group chairmen are hardly known nationwide. Reichinnek (35) comes from Saxony-Anhalt and entered the Bundestag in 2021 via the Lower Saxony state list. She studied Middle Eastern Studies and said she was in Cairo during the Arab Spring in 2010 and 2011. She taught German at a facility for unaccompanied refugee minors. In the Bundestag, she was responsible for children, youth, family and women's policy.

Tomatoes and jam as small gifts

Sören Pellmann (47) comes from Leipzig and studied law and education for the disabled. Before his time in the Bundestag, he was a primary school teacher. He says he likes to give away tomato plants or jam with fruit from his own garden at party stands. He sees himself as a citizen-oriented caretaker and was the Left Party's representative for the East when he was a member of the party.

Pellmann also has a special role to play: he defended his direct mandate in 2021, as did Gregor Gysi and Gesine Lötzsch. All three secured the Left Party's entry into the Bundestag as a parliamentary group in 2021, although it only achieved 4.9% of the second votes.

The Left Party parliamentary group disbanded in December after Wagenknecht and nine other MPs left the party. As the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, they now form their own group in the Bundestag with ten members. Wagenknecht is the chairwoman.