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The designated left-wing chairwoman Susanne Hennig-Wellsow wants to lead her party in the federal government out of its decades-long role as a pure opposition party.

“We have to be prepared if the window for government participation opens this year.

We shouldn't be frightened by such a possibility, ”said Hennig-Wellsow of the German Press Agency in Erfurt.

“My goal is a federal government without a CDU - preferably a green-red-red one.

I advocate getting ready for government. "

The 43-year-old, who has been managing the Left in Thuringia as a ruling party for more than six years, will run for the party leadership at an online party congress on Saturday together with the Hessian parliamentary group leader Janine Wissler.

If successful, a pair of female leaders would replace the previous management duo Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger after almost nine years.

There are no promising opponents.

In contrast to Wissler, who considers a government of the Greens, SPD and Left Party to be unlikely, Hennig-Wellsow said their goal was to prepare the left for participation in the government.

There are similarities with the Greens and the SPD, for example, in climate policy and social issues such as basic and citizens' insurance.

You stand for a "radical realpolitik".

"If you don't show that you want to rule, you will never be able to do it"

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It is clear to her that government participation sounds unrealistic at first glance.

Her experience in Thuringia, where the left with Bodo Ramelow has been the prime minister since 2014, says: "If you don't show that you want to govern, you will never succeed."

Hennig-Wellsow referred to the government experience of the left in other East German federal states.

In response to surveys that there is no majority for Green-Red-Red, she said: “The party system is very volatile.

It will be exciting to see what happens when Chancellor Angela Merkel leaves the stage. "

If they are elected, Hennig-Wellsow wants to give up their offices as state and parliamentary group chairman.

She is aiming for a candidacy for the Bundestag, she said.

As a result of years of trench warfare, she wanted to strengthen the influence of the party leadership on the parliamentary group.

“People vote for the party.

And the party is in the word with the people, ”she told the editorial network Germany (RND, Wednesday).

“Therefore, it is also the party that determines the direction of our policy in the Bundestag.” In the past, there had often been friction in Berlin between party and parliamentary group leaders of the left.