A young Berliner runs out of the hall, he wants to smoke quickly.

"In three years I can look for a new job, because then we won't be in the Bundestag anymore," he says.

"Heidi was the last chance." But Heidi Reichinnek didn't make it.

The Lower Saxony state chairwoman, 34 years old, came to almost 36 percent.

Janine Wissler, who has been leading the party since February 2021, won the first ballot with a good 57 percent.

Helen Bubrowski

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Reichinnek should be the new face of the party, that's what her supporters wanted.

With new beginning two points were meant.

First: Unlike Wissler, she has nothing to do with the sexism scandal in the Hessian state association.

On Friday evening, the party conference had debated sexist attacks on the left for two hours.

Representatives of the youth organization Solid had presented shocking reports from those affected.

What also speaks for Reichinnek from the point of view of her supporters: Unlike Wissler, the social worker does not belong to the movement left, who are defamed by her opponents as “lifestyle leftists”.

Reichinnek's rhetoric is class-struggle, but her application speech seemed formulaic.

"We are a socialist party that stands by those who are being exploited," she said.

The left must be the party that takes care of the people in the country.

But apart from better public relations, it was not clear what she wanted to do differently in terms of content.

Reichinnek is close to the parliamentary group leader Ali Mohamed Ali, who in turn is attributed to Sahra Wagenknecht's camp.

Wissler addressed the sexual assaults directly

Wissler had already made up ground on Friday.

She delivered a 38-minute speech that caught on at the convention hall.

She wanted to take everyone with her: "No, we don't have to choose between representing the interests of the workers or fighting for the rights of minorities," she cried.

"The struggle for social rights and human rights belong together." Wissler addressed the sexist attacks in Hesse directly.

"To all the women we didn't offer anything to if this happened to them, I sincerely apologize."

The applause after the speech was frenetic, most MPs had risen from their seats.

Only Reichinnek's closest supporters were angry: that was unfair, 38 minutes of speaking time for the competitor, pictures of Wissler everywhere.

Reichinnek had held the laudatory speech for the winner of the women's prize late on Friday evening, but that, according to those around her, was not broadcast live.

After the election, the open dispute continues.

The presidency congratulates Wissler and wishes her luck for a united left, "so that we can get ahead where we belong".

Two women get in touch and want to make a personal statement.

It's against Wissler.

This is possible at any time with the left.

"I'm angry," shouts the first woman, "we're putting people at the head of our supposedly feminist party who protect criminals." The second woman who comes forward has tears in her eyes.

She is a victim of sexual violence, she says.

"The first one who listened to me wasn't elected today." Reichinnek is meant.

Then a third woman reports, she is also angry: "I find it unbearable that this wonderful moment was used in this way." It was the "most misunderstood feminism" when women were accused of what men had done.

A reformer at Wissler's side

The party congress elects Martin Schirdewan at Wissler's side.

The East Berlin-born MEP is a reformer, even if he doesn't belong to the closest camp around parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch.

He would like the left to occupy the "bread and butter issues" again in the future.

In his speech, he positions himself more vehemently than many others against Russia and the “terrible war of aggression that violates international law”.

"This war must be ended immediately, we need a humanitarian ceasefire, Russia must withdraw its troops from Ukraine." It is good that the left is recognizable "as a peace party" and is clearly distancing itself from Putin and his imperialist policies.

Schirdewan prevailed against Sören Pellmann, who actually had a good starting position.

Pellmann got one of the three direct mandates that the left owes its parliamentary group status in the Bundestag.

He is assigned to the Wagenknecht camp - even if he doesn't want to place himself there.

With Wissler and Schirdewan, the left is led by two centrist (by left standards) politicians.

The Wagenknecht camp is significantly weakened.

Of the influential leftists, only Mohamed Ali remains, and the faction leader is also facing stiff opposition.

At the beginning of the party congress, a delegate applied to be voted out of office, although the party congress is not responsible for this.

The hope of many movement leftists is that the Wagenknecht camp, which represents left-wing positions on social issues but right-wing positions on refugee and social policy, will either dissolve or split off.

The name of the former faction leader, who is very present in the media, was not even mentioned in the speeches in Erfurt.

There weren't even any get well wishes.

Wagenknecht had not come to Erfurt, nor had her confidante Sevim Dagdalen.