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Berlin (dpa) - The Left elects a new leadership at its online party conference today.
The Hessian parliamentary group leader Janine Wissler and the Thuringian left chairman Susanne Hennig-Wellsow are likely to replace the previous bosses Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger.
There are no other promising candidates.
Kipping and Riexinger have been leading the Left since 2012 and are no longer running.
The approximately 600 delegates vote online.
The result must then be confirmed by postal vote.
On Friday, Kipping had campaigned for the left to participate in government in the federal government and called on her party to clarify the government issue.
This is controversial on the left because the party would be forced to compromise in key policy areas in a coalition in the federal government, such as foreign and security policy.
The left is, for example, against foreign missions by the Bundeswehr and for the abolition of secret services.
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Even after the change in leadership, Kipping wants to promote the formation of a left majority in the federal government.
"Which mission I want to dedicate myself to is a bridge builder for new left majorities - in which function, that is open," she told the TV broadcaster Phoenix.
"It is important that we as the left do not radiate indecision on the government issue, but that we say: We can be reckoned with and we want to implement it," she emphasized.
She is at peace with herself and her balance sheet as party leader.
But the biggest challenges still lie ahead of the party.
It is important to achieve double-digit values in the surveys and a left majority at the federal level in order to be able to implement social issues.
According to current surveys, it would not be enough for an alliance of the left with the SPD and the Greens.
The left itself is at seven to eight percent weak.
“We are far from exhausting our potential,” admitted Wissler in the ARD “Tagesthemen”.
The left must be more firmly anchored in districts and in companies, and be clearly more visible.
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Social inequalities intensified, especially during the Corona crisis.
Few people get richer, but many get poorer.
The health system is underfunded.
Nursing staff earned far too little and its overworked.
Here the left must put its fingers in the wound, emphasized Wissler.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210227-99-614631 / 3