The Left
German political party
Follow The Left on Notably News to receive short updates to your email — rarely!
2025 | Party membership grows to 115,000, with 60% of new entries being under 35 and largely female, increasing the proportion of women from 40% to 44.5%. |
2025 | Die Linke shows a potential resurgence, with increased support in several states, including 8.8% nationally and 11.2% in a specific state, suggesting a possible political recovery. |
2025 | Die Linke participated in Hamburg state parliament elections, obtaining 11.2% of votes and securing 2 seats. |
2025 | The party won 8.8% of votes in the German federal election, securing 64 seats in the Bundestag. |
February 23 2025 | Die Linke wins 8.8% of the vote and 64 seats in the federal election, their best result since 2017. The party wins six direct constituencies, including seats for Gregor Gysi, Sören Pellmann, Bodo Ramelow, and three newcomers in Berlin: Ines Schwerdtner, Pascal Meiser, and Ferat Koçak. Exit polling shows the party as most popular among 18-24 year olds, winning 25% of that demographic. |
February 2025 | The Left registered 102,412 members as of February 2025. |
February 11 2025 | Party membership surpassed its all-time peak with 81,200 members. |
February 3 2025 | Party reported 71,277 members, the highest number since 2010. |
January 18 2025 | At the national party conference, the party counted 60,060 members. |
January 2025 | Heidi Reichinnek delivers a viral Bundestag speech strongly condemning CDU leader Friedrich Merz's legislative collaboration with Alternative for Germany, leading to a surge in party popularity and membership, particularly among women and young people. |
2024 | The party continues to navigate a complex electoral landscape, with varied results across different German states, including a 13.1% result in a specific region. |
2024 | Die Linke participated in Saxony state parliament elections, achieving 4.5% of votes and securing 8 seats in the opposition. |
2024 | Die Linke contested Thuringia state parliament elections, winning 13.1% of votes and securing 17 seats in the opposition. |
December 2024 | Palestinian-German activist Ramsis Kilani is expelled from The Left by a party arbitration panel for alleged antisemitism, a decision contested by critics. |
December 2024 | Early federal election called; Die Linke polling around 3%. Party nominates Jan van Aken and Heidi Reichinnek as lead candidates, with a 'Mission Silberlocke' strategy featuring Gregor Gysi, Bodo Ramelow, and Dietmar Bartsch to bypass the five percent electoral threshold. |
December 31 2024 | The party membership grew to 58,532 members by the end of the year, recovering from previous declines. |
October 2024 | Ines Schwerdtner and Jan van Aken became the co-chairpersons of The Left party. |
October 18 2024 | Federal party congress approves a modified declaration regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict, welcoming the International Court of Justice's efforts to prevent genocide, leading to five prominent Berlin members leaving the party. |
October 11 2024 | Berlin party branch passes a resolution condemning Hamas's attack on Israel, affirming Israel's right to exist, and calling for the release of all hostages. |
September 2024 | The Left suffered major defeats in state elections in Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia, being reduced to fourth place in Thuringia with 13% and falling below 5% in Brandenburg and Saxony. |
July 2024 | Party gained 7,500 new members, bringing total membership to 52,000. |
July 2024 | Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan announced they would not seek re-election at the upcoming party congress. |
June 2024 | The Left suffered its worst nationwide election result in the European elections, winning only 2.7% of the vote and three seats. |
February 2024 | The Left's Bundestag faction was reorganized as a group with reduced status. |
2023 | Die Linke shows signs of potential stabilization, maintaining some strongholds like Berlin (12.2%) and showing slight improvements in certain regions. |
2023 | Die Linke participated in Berlin state parliament elections, achieving 12.2% of votes and securing 2 seats in the opposition. |
2023 | Die Linke contested Bremen state parliament elections, winning 10.9% of votes and joining the SPD–Greens–Left coalition. |
2023 | Die Linke participated in Hesse state parliament elections, gaining 3.1% of votes but securing 9 seats. |
2023 | Die Linke contested Bavaria state parliament elections, obtaining 1.5% of votes but winning no seats. |
December 2023 | Party membership fell to 50,000 members following the secession of the Wagenknecht wing. |
December 6 2023 | The Left's Bundestag faction was preemptively dissolved due to falling below the minimum number of members required. |
October 2023 | Sahra Wagenknecht and nine other Bundestag members, including Amira Mohamed Ali and Klaus Ernst, announced their intention to leave The Left and launch the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW). |
October 22 2023 | Martin Schirdewan, former co-chair of The Left, speaks at a Berlin demonstration in solidarity with Israel following Hamas's attack. |
2022 | The party continues to experience significant electoral decline, with many state results dropping below 5%, indicating a challenging political period. |
2022 | Die Linke contested state parliament elections in Lower Saxony, securing 2.7% of votes but obtaining no seats. |
2022 | At the party congress, no members of the Wagenknecht faction were elected to the executive, with the Movement Left (Bewegungslinke) broadly dominating the party. |
2022 | The party congress reduced the executive committee membership from 44 to 26 members. |
October 2022 | Martin Schirdewan was selected as a new party leader, taking over during a period of organizational transition. |
September 2022 | Sahra Wagenknecht gave a controversial Bundestag speech criticizing sanctions against Russia, which was boycotted by half of The Left's deputies and led to calls for her resignation. |
June 2022 | At the party congress, Janine Wissler was re-elected as leader with 57% of votes, and Martin Schirdewan was elected as the new co-leader, winning 61% of votes. |
May 2022 | The Left party experienced further electoral losses in the Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia state elections. |
April 2022 | Susanne Hennig-Wellsow resigned as co-leader of The Left party, citing the party's recent troubles and a desire to spend more time with family. |
March 2022 | In the Saarland state election, The Left party lost all of their seats. This was accompanied by internal conflict, including Oskar Lafontaine quitting the party shortly before the election. |
2021 | The party began experiencing a decline in electoral support across multiple German states, with reduced vote percentages compared to previous elections. |
2021 | Die Linke participated in state parliament elections in Baden-Württemberg, achieving 3.6% of votes but failing to secure seats. |
2021 | Die Linke experienced a significant electoral decline, obtaining only 5.0% of constituency votes and 4.9% of party list votes, losing 30 seats while remaining in opposition. |
September 26 2021 | The Left party participated in the federal election, winning 4.9% of votes and 39 seats, its worst performance since its formation in 2007. Despite falling short of the 5% threshold, the party secured full proportional representation by winning three direct constituencies (two in Berlin and one in Leipzig). |
February 27 2021 | Janine Wissler and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow were elected as new co-chairs at a digital party congress, winning 84% and 71% of votes respectively. |
December 2020 | Party membership shrank to 60,350 members by the end of the year. |
August 2020 | Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger announced they would step down as co-chairs, in line with party regulations limiting leadership tenure. |
We are only showing the most recent entries for this topic. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia article Die Linke, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.