Monday, October 25, 2021
Left group leaders
Mohamed-Ali and Bartsch re-elected
The Left suffered great losses in the Bundestag election – and only forms a parliamentary group thanks to three direct mandates it won. The election debacle apparently does little harm to their bosses, at least Mohamed-Ali and Bartsch will be re-elected.
Amira Mohamed-Ali and Dietmar Bartsch remain the parliamentary leaders of the Left in the Bundestag. As the group announced after a long meeting, both were confirmed in office with 76.9 percent of the votes. According to the information, there were no opposing candidates.
Previously, the party leaders Janine Wissler and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow had proposed the two candidates again for the chairmanship of the parliamentary group. Mohamed Ali and Bartsch have been together at the head of the left in the Bundestag since November 2019.
In the afternoon, the parliamentary group should also decide on parliamentary management and the candidacy for the office of Bundestag Vice-President. In conversation for this is again Petra Pau. The left had slipped from 9.2 to 4.9 percent in the federal election four weeks ago.
It is only thanks to Gregor Gysi (Berlin), Gesine Lötzsch (Berlin) and Sören Pellmann (Leipzig), who won their constituencies directly, that the party continues to be represented in parliament with factions. With at least three direct mandates, the five percent hurdle is bypassed and a party gets seats in the Bundestag after its second vote result. The new parliamentary group only has 39 members – in the previous legislative period there were 69.