View source for Social:The Left (Germany)

{{short description|German political party}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = The Left
| native_name      = Die Linke
| native_name_lang = de
| logo             = Logo Die Linke (2023).svg
| colorcode        = {{party color|The Left (Germany)}}
| leader1_title    = Chairpersons
| leader1_name     = {{plainlist|
* Janine Wissler
* Martin Schirdewan
}}
| leader2_title    = Deputy Chairpersons
| leader2_name     = {{plainlist|
* Ates Gürpinar
* Lorenz Gösta Beutin
* Katina Schubert
* Jana Seppelt
}}
| leader3_title    = Secretary
| leader3_name     = {{ill|Tobias Bank|de}}
| founder          = 
| founded          = {{start date|2007|6|16|df=y}}
| merger           = PDS<br />WASG
| headquarters     = Karl-Liebknecht-Haus Kleine Alexanderstraße 28 D-10178 [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]]
| think_tank       = Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
| student_wing     = Die Linke.SDS
| youth_wing       = [[Organization:Left Youth Solid|Left Youth Solid]]
| membership_year  = 2022
| membership       = {{decrease}} 54,214<ref name="Membership of The Left" />
| ideology         = [[Social:Democratic socialism|Democratic socialism]]<br />[[Social:Left-wing populism|Left-wing populism]]
| national         = 
| european         = Party of the European Left
| international    = 
| europarl         = The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL
| colours          = {{colour box|#DD0000|border=silver}} Red (official){{efn|Used in the party logo and flag.}}<br />{{colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}} Purple (customary){{efn|Used by the German government in their parliamentary diagrams.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wahl.tagesschau.de/wahlen/2013-09-22-BT-DE/index.shtml|title=Bundestagswahl 2013|language=de|website=Bundestagswahl 2021|date=9 October 2013|access-date=23 October 2021|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408224928/http://wahl.tagesschau.de/wahlen/2013-09-22-BT-DE/index.shtml|archive-date=8 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/bundestagswahlen/2021/ergebnisse.html|title=Bundestagswahl 2021|language=de|website=Bundeswahlleiter|publisher=Federal Returning Officer|date=15 October 2021|access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref>}}
| seats1_title     = Bundestag
| seats1           = {{composition bar|28|736|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| seats2_title     = Bundesrat
| seats2           = {{composition bar|4|69|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| seats3_title     = State Parliaments
| seats3           = {{composition bar|118|1894|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| seats4_title     = European Parliament
| seats4           = {{composition bar|5|96|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| seats5_title     = [[Social:Minister president (Germany)|Heads of State Governments]]
| seats5           = {{composition bar|1|16|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| flag             = Flag of Die Linke.svg
| footnotes        = {{cnote|A|A broad left-wing party, it has also been described as [[Social:Far-left politics|far-left]] by some news outlets.}}
| website          = {{Official URL}}
| country          = Germany
}}

'''The Left''' ({{lang-de|Die Linke}}), commonly referred to as the '''Left Party''' ({{lang-de|Die Linkspartei|links=no}} {{IPA-de|diː ˈlɪŋkspaʁˌtaɪ||De-Die Linkspartei.ogg}}), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of the merger of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative. Through the PDS, the party is the direct descendant of the Marxist–Leninist ruling party of the former [[Place:East Germany|East Germany]], the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).<ref name="Tangian2013">{{cite book|last=Tangian|first=Andranik|title=Mathematical Theory of Democracy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=soLEBAAAQBAJ|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|year=2013|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=soLEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA321 321]|isbn=978-3-642-38724-1}}</ref> Since 2022, The Left's co-[[Social:Chairperson|chairperson]]s have been Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan. The party holds 28 seats out of 736 in the Bundestag, the federal legislature of Germany, having won 4.9% of votes cast in the 2021 German federal election. Its former parliamentary group was the smallest of six in the Bundestag, and was headed by parliamentary co-leaders Amira Mohamed Ali and Dietmar Bartsch.

The Left is represented in eight of Germany's sixteen state legislatures, including all five of the eastern states. As of 2021, the party participates in governments in the states of Bremen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as a junior partner, as well as in Thuringia, where it leads a coalition with the Social Democratic Party and The Greens headed by Minister-President Bodo Ramelow. The Left is a founding member of the Party of the European Left, and is the third-largest party in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group in the European Parliament. In December 2022, {{nowrap|The Left}} had 54,214<ref name="Membership of The Left">{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/ueber-uns/mitgliederzahlen-2022/ |title=Mitgliederzahlen 2022 |access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref> registered members, making it the sixth-largest party in Germany by membership. The Left promotes [[Social:Anti-capitalism|anti-capitalism]], [[Social:Anti-fascism|anti-fascism]], and anti-militarism, and is neutral on European integration. It is the furthest left-wing party of the six represented in the Bundestag.

In 2023 there was major split in the party with the establishment of Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht. As a result The Left Fraktion in the Bundestag was dissolved.

==History==
===Background===
The main predecessor of The Left was the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which emerged from the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) of East Germany (GDR). In October 1989, facing increasing unpopularity, the SED replaced long-time leader Erich Honecker with Egon Krenz, who began a program of limited reforms, including the legalisation of opposition groups. He also loosened restrictions on travel between East and West Berlin, which inadvertently led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The SED gave up its "[[Social:Vanguardism|leading role]]" in November, and Krenz resigned soon afterward. He was succeeded by Gregor Gysi, part of a group of reformers who supported the Peaceful Revolution. His ally Hans Modrow, the new Chairman of the Council of Ministers, became the ''de facto'' national leader.

Seeking to change its image, the party expelled most of its former leadership, including Honecker and Krenz; the new government negotiated with opposition groups and arranged free elections. By the time of a special congress in mid-December, the SED was no longer a Marxist-Leninist party. It added ''Party of Democratic Socialism'' to its name, dropping the SED portion in February. The PDS oriented itself as pro-democratic, socialist, and supportive of East German sovereignty. The party chose Modrow as its lead candidate for the 1990 East German general election but was decisively defeated, finishing in third place with 16.4% of votes cast. The PDS was excluded from further political developments due to the aversion of the opposition, now in power, which considered it essentially tied to the Communist regime despite its change of name.<ref>Mary Elise Sarotte, ''1989: The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe'' (second edition). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014</ref>

After debuting with a meagre 2.4% nationwide in the 1990 German federal election immediately after reunification, the PDS gained popularity throughout the 1990s as a protest party in the eastern states. In the 1998 German federal election it won 5.1% of votes, enough to win seats outright without relying on direct constituencies as it had in 1994. By the 2000s, it was the second-largest party in every eastern state legislature except Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Despite electoral successes, the PDS faced internal strife due to ideological disputes, a chronic decline in membership, and a near-complete lack of support in the western states, which has been home to 85% of Germany's population. The 1994 German federal election also saw a "red socks" campaign used by the centre-right, including the CDU/CSU and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), to scare off a possible red–red–green coalition (SPD–PDS–Greens). Analysts have stated that such a strategy likely paid off, as it was seen as one of the decisive elements for the narrow victory of Kohl for the CDU/CSU–FDP. The campaign was criticized as an obvious attempt to discredit the whole political left; the PDS reinterpreted it for itself by printing red socks.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dw.com/en/german-election-could-there-soon-be-a-left-wing-government/a-59073355|title=German election: Could there soon be a left-wing government?|agency=Deutsche Welle|date=24 September 2021|access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref>

===PDS–WASG alliance===
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|caption=The predecessors of Die Linke, and its split-off Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Parteien nach 1989 |url=https://www.teachsam.de/politik/brd_pols/parteien/brd_parteien_5_2_6_1.htm |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=www.teachsam.de}}</ref>}}
In January 2005, a group of disaffected Social Democrats and trade unionists founded Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative (WASG), a left-wing party opposed to federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's Agenda 2010 labour and welfare reforms. The party made a modest showing of 2.2% in the North Rhine-Westphalia state election in May, but failed to win seats. The election saw the incumbent SPD government defeated in a landslide, which was widely interpreted as a sign of the federal SPD's unpopularity. Chancellor Schröder subsequently called an early federal election to be held in September.

WASG continued to gain members, prompting the PDS leadership to propose an alliance between the two parties. With the established eastern base of the PDS and WASG's potential for growth in the west, the parties hoped to enter the Bundestag together. They agreed to form an electoral pact, in which they would not run against one another in direct constituencies and would create joint [[Social:Electoral list|electoral list]]s featuring candidates from both parties. They also agreed to unify into a single party in 2007. To symbolise the new relationship, the PDS renamed itself the Left Party.PDS ({{lang-de|Linkspartei.PDS}}). The joint list ran under the name The Left.PDS ({{lang-de|Die Linke.PDS}}), though in the western states, where the PDS was shunned for its association with the GDR, "PDS" was optional. The alliance's profile was greatly boosted when former federal Minister of Finance Oskar Lafontaine, who had left the SPD after the North Rhine-Westphalia election, joined WASG in June. He was chosen as the party's lead candidate for the federal election and shared the spotlight with Gregor Gysi of the PDS.

Polls early in the summer showed the unified Left list winning as much as 12 percent of the vote, and for a time it seemed possible the party would surge past the Greens and FDP and become the third-largest party in the Bundestag. During the campaign, the party was subject to frequent criticism. At one event, Oskar Lafontaine described ''Fremdarbeiter'' ("foreign workers", a term associated with the Nazi regime) as a threat to German labour. He claimed to have misspoken, but in an article published in ''Die Welt'', a group of prominent German writers accused him of deliberately appealing to xenophobic and far-right voters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.signandsight.com/features/241.html|title=Writers warn about Linkspartei|publisher=signandsight |date=1 July 2005 |access-date=3 June 2012}}</ref>

In the 2005 federal election, the Left.PDS easily passed the electoral threshold, winning 8.7% of the vote and 53 seats. It became the fourth largest party in the Bundestag. The result of the election was inconclusive; between the SPD, Greens, and Left.PDS, left-wing parties held a majority, but the SPD was unwilling to cooperate with the Left.PDS. The result was a grand coalition of the CDU and SPD.

===Foundation of The Left===
Negotiations for a formal merger of the PDS and WASG continued through the next year until a final agreement was reached on 27 March 2007.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGChCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 |title=Party Members and Activists |page=85 |publisher=Routledge |editor1-first=Emilie |editor1-last=van Haute |editor2-first=Anika |editor2-last=Gauja |date=24 April 2015 |isbn=9781317524328 |access-date=22 August 2017 |via=Google Books}}</ref> The new party, called The Left (''Die Linke''), held its founding congress in Berlin on 16 June 2007. Lothar Bisky and Oskar Lafontaine were elected as co-leaders, while Gregor Gysi became leader of the party's Bundestag group.

The unified party quickly became a serious force in western Germany for the first time. It comfortably surpassed the electoral threshold in Bremen in 2007, and throughout 2008 won seats in Lower Saxony, Hesse and Hamburg. The "five-party system" in Germany was now a reality in the west as well as the east.

A string of electoral successes followed during the "super election year" of 2009. The Left achieved 7.5% in the European elections, confirming their enduring nationwide popularity. Six state elections were held throughout the year, and in each of them the party either surged ahead or consolidated earlier gains. They saw an upswing in Thuringia and Hesse and won seats for the first time in Schleswig-Holstein and Saarland. Oskar Lafontaine ran as the party's lead candidate in Saarland, leading the party to a massive success with 21.3% of the vote. In Saxony and Brandenburg, The Left's vote declined slightly, but it remained the second largest party in both states.

===2009 federal election===
[[File:Bundestag 2009 Linke.svg|thumb|Results for the second votes by constituency in the 2009 federal election]]
The electoral collapse of the Social Democratic Party in the federal election on 27 September 2009 saw The Left's vote surge to 11.9%, increasing its representation in the Bundestag from 54 to 76 seats, just under half as large as the SPD's parliamentary group. It became the second most popular party in the eastern states with 28.5%, while experiencing a breakthrough in the west with 8.3%. It was the most popular party in Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, and won sixteen direct constituencies, the largest tally by a minor party in history. The Left nonetheless remained in opposition.

The Left won seats in the parliament of Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, in the May 2010 election. They now held seats in thirteen of Germany's sixteen states, only absent from three states in the traditionally conservative south.

In January 2010, Oskar Lafontaine announced that, due to his ongoing cancer treatment, he would not seek re-election to the party leadership at the upcoming party congress. At the congress in May, Lothar Bisky also chose not to nominate for re-election; Klaus Ernst and Gesine Lötzsch were elected as the party's new leaders.

Just a few weeks later, the SPD and Greens invited the Left to support their candidate for the 2010 presidential election, former Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records Joachim Gauck. They suggested that this was an opportunity for the Left to leave their communist past behind them and show unconditional support for democracy.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ludwig Greven |date=29 June 2010 |language=de |url=http://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2010-06/gauck-linkspartei |title=Präsidentenwahl: Linke, wählt Gauck! |trans-title=presidential election: Left, choose Gauck! |publisher=Zeit Online |access-date=3 June 2012}}</ref> However, the party refused to support him, highlighting his support of the War in Afghanistan and his attacks on their party.<ref>[http://www.n-tv.de/politik/Linke-ist-gegen-Gauck-article942387.html "Nicht wählbar": Linke ist gegen Gauck], n-tv, 28 June 2010</ref> They also rejected the conservative Christian Wulff, favourite of Chancellor [[Biography:Angela Merkel|Angela Merkel]],<ref>[http://www.manager-magazin.de/politik/artikel/0,2828,703784,00.html Linke verhindert Gauck, Wulff wird Präsident], Manager Magazin</ref> instead putting forward their own nominee, television journalist Luc Jochimsen.<ref>{{cite news|author=von Markus Ehrenberg|url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/medien/tagesschau-luc-jochimsen-oder-doch-lukrezia/1854908.html |title=Tagesschau: Luc Jochimsen? Oder doch Lukrezia?|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online |date=9 June 2010 |publisher=Tagesspiegel.de |access-date=3 June 2012}}</ref> The red-green camp reacted with disappointment.<ref name="SPON">[http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,703975,00.html Streit über Präsidentenwahl: Linke verteidigt Anti-Gauck-Kurs], Spiegel Online, 1 July 2010</ref> SPD chairman Sigmar Gabriel described The Left's position as "bizarre and embarrassing," stating that he was shocked that they would declare Joachim Gauck their enemy due to his investigation of GDR injustice.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/bundespraesident-gabriel-lafontaine-kritik-an-gauck-peinlich_aid_520195.html |title=Bundespräsident: Gabriel: Lafontaine-Kritik an Gauck peinlich |publisher=Focus.de|date=17 June 2010|access-date=20 February 2012}}</ref> The SPD and Greens expected the Left to support Gauck in the decisive third round of the election; however, after Jochimsen withdrew, most of the Left's delegates abstained.<ref name="SPON"/><ref name="n24">[http://www.n24.de/news/newsitem_6168071.html Gauck-Boykott vertieft die Gräben], n24.de</ref> Wulff was elected by an absolute majority.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/bundespraesidentenwahl-politik-am-rande-des-nervenzusammenbruchs-1578650.html|title=Bundespräsidentenwahl: Politik am Rande des Nervenzusammenbruchs|publisher=Stern.de|date=1 July 2010|access-date=3 June 2012}}</ref>

The party was isolated ahead of the March 2012 presidential election. The federal CDU/CSU–FDP government invited the SPD and Greens to agree on an all-party consensus candidate; The Left was excluded. Those invited eventually agreed to support Joachim Gauck. The Left again refused to support him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/gauck-als-wulff-nachfolger-linke-schimpft-ueber-kandidat-der-kalten-herzen/6232216.html |title=Bundesversammlung: Gauck soll am 18. März gewählt werden - Linke erwägt eigene Nominierung |publisher=Tagesspiegel.de |date=20 February 2012 |access-date=3 June 2012}}</ref> SPD chair Sigmar Gabriel once again criticized the party, claiming they harboured "sympathy for the German Democratic Republic."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.focus.de/politik/deutschland/bundespraesident/gabriel-greift-linke-an-viele-linke-finden-stasi-aufklaerung-unanstaendig-_aid_718073.html|title=Gabriel greift Linke an: Betonköpfe, die Stasi-Aufklärung unanständig finden|work=Focus|date=26 February 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.n24.de/news/newsitem_7703457.html|title=Gabriel: Linke lehnt Gauck wegen Sympathie für DDR ab|work=Agence France-Presse|date=26 February 2012}}</ref> The Left put forward Beate Klarsfeld, a journalist and outspoken anti-fascist who had investigated numerous Nazi war criminals. She received 10.2% of the delegate votes. Gauck was elected in the first round with 80.4% of votes.

The Left's fortunes began to turn in 2011, and they suffered a string of setbacks and defeats through 2013, particularly in the western states. They failed to win seats in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg, and suffered losses in Bremen, Berlin, and Saarland. Crucially, the party lost its seats in the Landtags of Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Lower Saxony.

On 11 April 2012, Gesine Lötzsch resigned as party co-leader, citing medical conditions her husband was suffering. Klaus Ernst subsequently announced he would not seek re-election as leader at the party congress in June.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/loetzsch158.html|title=Linkspartei diskutiert über Lötzsch-Nachfolge |publisher=tagesschau.de |date=13 January 2012|access-date=3 June 2012}}</ref> Katja Kipping, who had served as deputy leader since 2007, was elected as co-leader with 67.1% of votes. Bernd Riexinger was elected as the other co-leader with 53.5% of votes, winning a narrow contest against Dietmar Bartsch.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/katja-kipping-ist-neue-linken-chefin-a-836667.html|title=Kipping und Riexinger führen tief zerstrittene Linke|date=2 June 2012|publisher=Der Spiegel}}</ref>

===2013 federal election===
[[File:Btw13 linke zweit endgueltig.svg|thumb|Results for the second votes by constituency in the 2013 federal election]]
In the 2013 federal election, The Left received 8.6% of the national vote and won 64 seats, a decline from 2009. However, due to the collapse of the FDP, they moved into third place. After the formation of a second grand coalition between the CDU and SPD, The Left became the leading party of the opposition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/BTW_BUND_13/ergebnisse/bundesergebnisse/index.html|title=Final result of the Election to the German Bundestag 2013|work=The Federal Returning Officer|access-date=23 September 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925024908/http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/en/bundestagswahlen/BTW_BUND_13/ergebnisse/bundesergebnisse/index.html|archive-date=25 September 2013}}</ref>

The party narrowly retained its seats in the Hessian state election held on the same day as the federal election. The Left suffered a major loss in Brandenburg in 2014, losing a third of its voteshare and falling to third place. Nonetheless, it continued as a junior partner under the SPD.

The 2014 Thuringian state election was the party's biggest success to date, achieving not only its best state election result (28.2%) but also forming the first coalition with one of its own members at the head. The party was able to negotiate a [[Social:Red–green alliance#Red–red–green coalition|red-red-green coalition]] with the SPD and Greens, and Bodo Ramelow was elected Minister-President by the Landtag of Thuringia, becoming the first member of the party to serve as head of government of any German state.

The Left achieved modest gains in the city-states of Hamburg and Bremen in 2015. They suffered a loss in Saxony-Anhalt reminiscent of that in Brandenburg 18 months earlier, falling to third place and losing a third of their voteshare. In September, the Left joined government in [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]] after the 2016 state election as the second-largest member of a coalition with the SPD and Greens.

===2017 federal election===
[[File:Karte btw linke17z endg.svg|thumb|Results for the second votes by constituency in the 2017 federal election]]
In the 2017 federal election, The Left fell to fifth place due to the re-entry of the FDP in fourth place and the ascension of [[Earth:Alternative for Germany|AfD]] to third place. The party suffered substantial losses in its traditional eastern heartland, but made a net gain nationally thanks to an improvement in the western states, rising to 9.2% of votes (up 0.6 points).

Throughout 2017, they failed to make a comeback to the Landtags of Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Lower Saxony, despite making gains in all three states. The party's slow decline in Saarland continued, winning 12.8% in March. In 2018, they defended their seats in Hesse. Kipping and Riexinger were re-elected for a third time at the party congress in 2018, winning 64.5% and 73.8% respectively.<ref name="Parteitag2018">{{cite news|url=https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article177265132/Parteitag-in-Leipzig-Kipping-und-Riexinger-als-Linken-Vorsitzende-wiedergewaehlt.html|title=Kipping und Riexinger als Linken-Vorsitzende wiedergewählt|newspaper=Die Welt|date=9 June 2018}}</ref>

The Left had mixed results in 2019. In the European election, they declined to 5.5%, the worst result in a national election since the party's formation. In the Bremen state election held on the same day, the party made small gains, and joined a western state government for the first time in a coalition under the SPD and Greens. The Left suffered major losses in the Brandenburg and Saxony state elections held on 1 September, losing almost half its voteshare in each, and left the Brandenburg government, in which they had participated since 2009.

In the 2019 Thuringian state election, Ramelow led the party to its best ever result, winning 31.0% and becoming the largest party in a state legislature for the first time, though his red-red-green government lost its majority. In February 2020, the FDP's Thomas Kemmerich was elected Minister-President with the support of [[Earth:Alternative for Germany|AfD]] and the CDU, but immediately resigned due to widespread outrage. After a protracted government crisis, Ramelow was re-elected for a second term to lead a minority government.

In August 2020, Kipping and Riexinger announced they would step down as co-chairs in accordance with party regulations stating that no position should be held by the same person for more than eight years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/germany-both-leaders-of-socialist-left-party-to-quit/a-54752073|title=Germany: Both leaders of socialist Left Party to quit|date=29 August 2020|publisher=Deutsche Welle}}</ref> A party congress was scheduled on 30 October to 1 November 2020, but was cancelled on 27 October due to the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteistruktur/parteitag/erfurter-parteitag-2020|title=Erfurt Party Congress 2020|publisher=The Left}}</ref> the party instead held a fully digital congress on 26–27 February 2021.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/die-linke-parteitag-findet-komplett-digital-statt-a-9c9d66ae-bae3-4cf0-a71a-cfc793a0df4f|title=The Left Party Congress will take place completely digitally|date=23 January 2021|publisher=Der Spiegel}}</ref> Hessian parliamentary leader Janine Wissler and Thuringia branch leader Susanne Hennig-Wellsow were elected co-chairs on 27 February, winning 84% and 71% of votes cast, respectively.<ref name="WisHen">{{cite web |title=Janine Wissler and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow are the new chairwomen of the Left |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/die-linke-waehlt-janine-wissler-und-susanne-hennig-wellsow-als-fuehrungsduo-a-7050f423-de0f-4f19-8d7a-9af7a38d7ad8 |date=27 February 2021 |publisher=Der Spiegel}}</ref>

=== 2021 federal election ===
During the 2021 German federal election, The Left was eager to become a partner in a coalition government with the SPD and Greens.<ref>{{cite web|last=Chadwick|first=Lauren|date=23 September 2021|url=https://www.euronews.com/2021/09/23/germany-s-far-left-party-eager-to-join-coalition-while-others-steer-clear|title=German far-left party eager to join coalition while others steer clear|website=Euronews|access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref> As the CDU/CSU collapsed in the polls and the SPD surged, the last month of the campaign saw the conservative government engage in a Red Scare campaign against The Left and the prospect of a red–red–green coalition,<ref>{{cite news|last=Kirschbaum|first=Erick|date=10 September 2021|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/german-elections-coalitions-red-scare-b1917731.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/german-elections-coalitions-red-scare-b1917731.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=German elections: CDU resorts to 'Red Scare' tactics amid slump in the polls|work=The Independent|access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref> utilising [[Social:Red-baiting|red-baiting]] and fearmongering about extremism;<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dw.com/en/merkel-questions-if-spds-scholz-ready-to-rule-out-alliance-with-left-party/a-59045629|title=Merkel questions if SPD's Scholz ready to rule out alliance with Left party|agency=Agence France-Presse|date=31 August 2021|access-date=23 October 2021|via=Deutsche Welle}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dw.com/en/german-election-could-there-soon-be-a-left-wing-government/a-59073355|title=German election: Could there soon be a left-wing government?|agency=Deutsche Welle|date=24 September 2021|access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref> the party had elected a new moderate leadership and put forward an observably more moderate programme than previous elections.<ref name="Oltermann 2021"/><ref>{{cite web|last1=Hegazy|first1=Sarah|last2=Lehman|first2=Pola|date=7 September 2021|url=https://democracy.blog.wzb.eu/2021/09/06/das-wahlprogramm-der-partei-die-linke-zur-bundestagswahl-2021/|title=Das Wahlprogramm der Partei Die Linke zur Bundestagswahl 2021|trans-title=The election manifesto of the party Die Linke for the 2021 federal election|website=Democracy|language=de|publisher=Manifesto Project|access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref> A [[Finance:Capital flight|capital flight]] to Switzerland ensued due to fear of increased taxes for the wealthy through higher inheritance tax and a wealth tax.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hirt|first=Oliver|date=24 September 2021|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-millionaires-rush-assets-switzerland-ahead-election-2021-09-24/|title=German millionaires rush assets to Switzerland ahead of election|work=Reuters|access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref>

The Left won 4.9% of votes and 39 seats in the 26 September federal election, its worst showing since its official formation in 2007, narrowly failing to cross the 5% [[Social:Electoral threshold|electoral threshold]]. The party was nonetheless entitled to full [[Social:Proportional representation|proportional representation]] as it won three direct constituencies; two in [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]] and one in Leipzig. This meant a net loss of 4.3 percentage points of vote share and 30 seats overall. Notably, {{awrap|Vice President}} of the Bundestag Petra Pau was defeated in her direct constituency of Berlin-Marzahn-Hellersdorf. Due to The Left's poor performance, a left-wing coalition fell a few seats short of a majority in the Bundestag.<ref>{{cite news|date=27 September 2021|title=Factbox: German 'traffic light' coalition seen as most likely|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/german-traffic-light-coalition-seen-most-likely-2021-09-27/|access-date=27 September 2021}}</ref>

State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were held on the same day. The Left suffered minor losses in both, but nonetheless joined coalition governments in each state. In Berlin, they joined a renewed coalition with the SPD and Greens.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2021/12/berlin-linke-koalitionsvertrag-entscheidung-koalition-rot-gruen-rot.html|title=Berlin Left votes for red-green-red coalition agreement |date=17 December 2021|lang=de|website=RBB24}}</ref> In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, they replaced the CDU as junior partner to the SPD.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/mecklenburg-vorpommern/SPD-und-Linke-unterzeichnen-Koalitionsvertrag-,koalitionmv154.html|title=SPD and Left sign coalition agreement|date=13 November 2021|language=de|website=Norddeutscher Rundfunk}}</ref><ref name="Reel">{{cite web|url=https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/mecklenburg-vorpommern/Jetzt-live-Schwesig-als-Ministerpraesidentin-von-MV-wiedergewaehlt,koalitionmv156.html|title=Schwesig is re-elected as Minister-President of MV|date=15 November 2021|language=de|website=Norddeutscher Rundfunk}}</ref>

After the federal election, The Left suffered internal strife and its fortunes continued to decline. A major blow came in the March 2022 Saarland state election, with the party losing all their seats amid conflict between the state leadership and Oskar Lafontaine, who declined to run again and quit the party shortly before the election.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/28/olaf-scholz-spd-major-win-saarland-state-election-centre-left|title=Olaf Scholz's SPD secures major win in Saarland state election|date=28 March 2022|website={{wipe|The Guardian}}}}</ref> Further, reports of sexism and abuse arose within the Hesse branch, including claims that implicated Janine Wissler. In April, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow resigned as co-leader, citing the party's recent troubles and desire to spend more time with family.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2022-04/hennig-wellsow-tritt-als-parteivorsitzende-der-linkspartei-zurueck|title=Hennig-Wellsow resigns as chair of the Left Party|date=20 April 2022|language=de|website=Die Zeit}}</ref> Further losses came in the Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia state elections in May.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merkur.de/politik/die-linke-raeumt-grosse-niederlage-in-schleswig-holstein-ein-91532131.html|title=The Left concedes a "great defeat" in Schleswig-Holstein|access-date=25 May 2022|language=de|website=[[Company:Merkur|Merkur]]|date=9 May 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/16/german-state-elections-populism-decline-north-rhine-westphalia|title=German state elections show populism in decline on left and right|date=16 May 2022|website={{wipe|The Guardian}}}}</ref>

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine highlighted fault lines within the party. The leadership and majority took a strongly pro-Ukrainian stance, while the faction around Sahra Wagenknecht opposed sanctions against Russia.<ref name="Verge">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/19/germanys-die-linke-on-verge-of-split-over-sanctions-on-russia|title=Germany's Die Linke on verge of split over sanctions on Russia|date=19 September 2022|website={{wipe|The Guardian}}}}</ref> At the party congress in June, incumbent Janine Wissler was re-elected as leader, while co-chair of The Left in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL) group Martin Schirdewan was elected as Hennig-Wellsow's successor. They both faced challenges from candidates aligned with Wagenknecht's faction, winning majorities of 57% and 61% of votes respectively.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/janine-wissler-die-linke-bundesvorsitzende-100.html|title= Wissler and Schirdewan new party leaders|date=26 June 2022|language=de|website=ZDF}}</ref>

During a Bundestag speech in September, Wagenknecht attacked the federal government for launching what she called "an unprecedented economic war against our most important energy supplier," and called for the end of sanctions against Russia. The speech was boycotted by half The Left's deputies, and prompted numerous calls for her resignation by colleagues. Hundreds of members were reported to have left the party over the dispute, including prominent former MdB Fabio De Masi. ''Die Tageszeitung'' reported that Wagenknecht's supporters had begun planning a breakaway party to compete in the 2024 European elections.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/linke-hunderte-parteiaustritte-nach-aeusserung-von-sahra-wagenknecht-a-d5a16acc-91ea-49d3-8edf-5b63a50e91c7|title=The Left: Hundreds of party resignations after statements by Sahra Wagenknecht|date=13 October 2022|language=de|website=Der Spiegel}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/linke-finanzexperte-fabio-de-masi-verlaesst-die-partei-a-1fafbee3-ad4f-43e2-a77e-1d2a1f402720|title=Left: finance expert Fabio De Masi leaves the party|date=13 September 2022|language=de|website=Der Spiegel}}</ref><ref name="Verge"/>

In the 2023 Berlin state election, The Left lost two seats in the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin; further, in the 2023 Bremen state election, they retained their 10 seats in the Bürgerschaft of Bremen.<ref>{{cite web |date=13 February 2023 |title=Berlin: Conservatives projected to win repeated vote |url=https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-conservatives-projected-to-win-repeated-vote/a-64680065 |website=Deutsche Welle}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=15 May 2023 |title=Scholz's Social Democrats win Bremen state vote, Greens slump |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/bremen-election-may-boost-scholzs-slumping-social-democrats-2023-05-14/ |website={{wipe|Reuters}}}}</ref> In the 2023 Hessian state election, The Left were [[Social:Wipeout (elections)|wiped out]] after achieving 3.1% of the vote, thus losing their 9 seats due to falling short of the 5% threshold needed for representation.<ref>{{cite web |date=9 October 2023 |title=Germany: Scholz coalition battered in Bavaria, Hesse polls |url=https://www.dw.com/en/germany-scholz-coalition-battered-in-bavaria-hesse-elections/a-67037370 |website=Deutsche Welle}}</ref>

In October 2023, Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht was founded as a populist split from The Left.<ref>{{Cite news |last=ONLINE |first=ZEIT |date=23 October 2023 |title=Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht : Würden Sie eine Wagenknecht-Partei wählen? |language=de-DE |work=Die Zeit |url=https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2023-10/buendnis-sarah-wagenknecht-partei-die-linke |access-date=23 October 2023 |issn=0044-2070}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=23 October 2023 |title=Germany's far-left star quits post-Communists to found populist party |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germanys-far-left-star-quits-post-communists-found-populist-party-2023-10-23/ |access-date=7 November 2023}}</ref>

On 14 November 2023, Die Linke announced it would dissolve its caucus within the Bundestag.<ref>{{cite news |title=Germany's opposition Left Party to dissolve caucus after prominent member launches rival venture |url=https://apnews.com/article/germany-left-party-wagenknecht-parliament-4d7e77f971ecdcd926f2267ae76acc29 |work=AP News |date=14 November 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

==Ideology==
{{socialism sidebar}}
The Left advocates for [[Social:Democratic socialism|democratic socialism]]<ref>{{Cite web|last=Nordsieck|first=Wolfram|date=September 2021|title=Parties and Elections in Europe|url=http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/germany.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022030015/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/germany.html|archive-date=22 October 2021|access-date=23 October 2021|website=Parties and Elections in Europe}}</ref><ref name="CiniBorragan2013">{{cite book |editor1-last=Cini |editor1-first=Michelle |editor2-last=Perez-Solorzano Borragan |editor2-first=Nieves |title=European Union Politics |chapter=Glossary |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RTNVM4YDTQcC&pg=PA387 |publisher=[[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]] |year=2013 |page=387 |isbn=978-0-19-969475-4}}</ref> as an alternative to [[Philosophy:Capitalism|capitalism]].<ref name="bpb.de">{{cite web|url=https://www.bpb.de/politik/grundfragen/parteien-in-deutschland/die-linke/42133/programmatik|title=Die Programmatik der LINKEN &#124; Parteien in Deutschland &#124; bpb|first=Frank|last=Decker|language=German|website=bpb.de|date=6 February 2023 }}</ref> The Left is vocally anti-fascist<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteistruktur/zusammenschluesse/bag-antifaschismus/ |title=BAG Antifaschismus
|work=Die Linke |access-date=6 May 2021}}</ref> and anti-militarist.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cTEY41vUZPEC&pg=PA130 |title=Antimilitarism: Political and Gender Dynamics of Peace Movements |page=130 |first=Cynthia |last=Cockburn |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2012 |isbn=9780230359758 |via=Google Books |access-date=14 February 2017}}</ref> As a platform for [[Social:Left-wing politics|left-wing politics]] in the wake of [[Social:Globalization|globalization]], the Left includes many different factions, ranging from communists to social democrats. During the joint party convention with the Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative in March 2007, a document outlining political principles was agreed on. The official program of the party was decided upon by an overwhelming majority at the party conference in October 2011 in [[Place:Erfurt|Erfurt]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.die-linke.de/party/documents/party-programme/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926152139/https://en.die-linke.de/party/documents/party-programme/|archive-date=26 September 2021|title=Programme of the Die Linke Party|website=Die Linke|publisher=The Left|date=23 October 2011|access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref>

===Economic policy===
The Left aims at increasing [[Finance:Government spending|government spending]] in the areas of public investments, education, research and development, culture, and infrastructure, as well as increasing taxes for large corporations. It calls for increases in inheritance tax rates and the reinstatement of the individual [[Finance:Net worth|net worth]] tax. The party aims at a linear income tax progression, which would reduce the tax burden for lower incomes, while raising the middle- and top-income tax rates. The combating of tax loopholes is a perennial issue, as The Left believes that they primarily benefit people with high incomes. The party aims for the financial markets to be subject to heavier government regulation, with the goal, among others, to reduce the speculation of bonds and derivatives. The party wants to strengthen anti-trust laws and empower [[Finance:Cooperative|cooperative]]s to decentralise the economy. Further economic reforms supported by the party include solidarity and more self-determination for workers, a ban on hydraulic fracturing, the rejection of [[Finance:Privatization|privatization]], and the introduction of a federal [[Social:Minimum wage|minimum wage]],<ref name=BBCLeft>{{cite news|last=Rosenberg|first=Steve|date=24 September 2009|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8272658.stm|title=German hard left set to gain ground|agency=BBC News|access-date=31 October 2021}}</ref> and more generally the overthrow of property and power structures in which, citing [[Biography:Karl Marx|Karl Marx]]'s aphorism, "man is a debased, enslaved, abandoned, despicable essence."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://die-linke.de/fileadmin/download/international/programmatic_points.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927210617/http://die-linke.de/fileadmin/download/international/programmatic_points.pdf|archive-date=27 September 2007|title=Key Programmatic Points|website=Die Linke|publisher=The Left|page=5|access-date=23 October 2021}}</ref>

===Foreign policy===
Concerning foreign policy, The Left calls for international disarmament, while ruling out any form of involvement of the Bundeswehr outside of Germany. The party calls for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/us-troops-germany-public-opinion-pull-out-nato-summit-merkel-a8442021.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/us-troops-germany-public-opinion-pull-out-nato-summit-merkel-a8442021.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Germans want Donald Trump to pull US troops out of Germany, poll finds |work=The Independent |first=Jon |last=Stone |date=11 July 2018 |access-date=12 July 2018}}</ref> as well as the replacement of NATO with a collective security system including Russia as a member country. They believe that German foreign policy should be strictly confined to the goals of civil diplomacy and cooperation, instead of confrontation, though they also believe that such demands are more of a vision, are not to be implemented as soon as possible, and should not be seen as inflexible preconditions for a federal, left-wing red–red–green coalition.<ref name="Oltermann 2021">{{cite news|last=Oltermann|first=Philip|date=24 September 2021|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/24/german-progressives-dare-to-dream-of-leftist-red-green-red-coalition|title=German progressives dare to dream of leftist 'red-green-red' coalition|work=The Guardian|access-date=27 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Nöstlinger|first=Nette|date=20 September 2021|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-election-2021-left-party-prepared-to-join-government-under-olaf-scholz-die-linke-gregor-gysi/|title=Germany's Marxist firebrand plots for the Left's moment|website=Politico|access-date=1 October 2021}}</ref>

In their manifesto, the party says: "All support for NATO states which, like Erdoğan's Turkey, disregard international law, must be stopped immediately."<ref>{{cite news |title=Turkey in Germany's 2021 Elections: Political party manifestos and their views on Turkey – Dr Ronald Meinardus |url=https://www.eliamep.gr/en/publication/%CE%B7-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%81%CE%BA%CE%AF%CE%B1-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B9%CF%82-%CE%B3%CE%B5%CF%81%CE%BC%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AD%CF%82-%CE%B5%CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%AD%CF%82-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85-20/ |date=9 September 2021}}</ref> The Left criticised Germany's defense plan with Saudi Arabia, which has been waging war in Yemen and has been accused of massive [[Religion:Human rights in Saudi Arabia|human rights]] violations.<ref>"[https://www.thelocal.de/20161208/opposition-parties-condemn-german-defence-deal-with-saudi-arabia Opposition parties condemn German defence plan with Saudi Arabia]". ''The Local''. 8 December 2016.</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Germany moving to limit arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/4/28/germany-moving-to-limit-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia-uae-turkey |work=Al-Jazeera |date=28 April 2018}}</ref> The Left supports further debt cancellations for developing countries and increases in development aid, in collaboration with the {{wipe|United Nations}}, [[Organization:World Trade Organization|World Trade Organization]], [[Organization:World Bank|World Bank]], and diverse bilateral treaties among countries. The party supports reform of the United Nations as long as it is aimed at a fair balance between developed and developing countries. The Left would have all American military bases within Germany, and if possible in the [[Social:European Union|European Union]], enacted within a binding treaty, dissolved. The Left welcomes European integration, while opposing what it believes to be neoliberal policies in the European Union. The party strives for the democratisation of the EU institutions and a stronger role of the United Nations in international politics.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Germany|url=https://europeelects.eu/germany/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009172528/https://europeelects.eu/germany/|archive-date=9 October 2021|access-date=23 October 2021|website=Europe Elects}}</ref> The Left opposed both the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq War,<ref name="BBCLeft" /> as well as the Lisbon Treaty.<ref name="euractiv lisbon treaty">{{cite web|url=http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu/bundestag-paves-way-lisbon-treaty-ratification/article-185252?Ref=RSS|title=Bundestag paves way for Lisbon Treaty ratification|publisher=EurActive.com|date=9 September 2009|access-date=28 September 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609230050/http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu/bundestag-paves-way-lisbon-treaty-ratification/article-185252?Ref=RSS|archive-date=9 June 2011}}</ref>

The party has a mixed stance towards the Russo-Ukrainian War. Gregor Gysi has described Russia as state capitalist, and the party has called the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the Russian military intervention in Ukraine to be illegal; however, Gysi commented that older elements of the party have a strong penchant for Russia and the [[Place:Soviet Union|Soviet Union]].<ref name="test">{{cite journal|last=Gysi|first=Gregor|year=2014|url=http://www.israelcfr.com/documents/gregor-gysi.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617125317/http://www.israelcfr.com/documents/gregor-gysi.pdf|archive-date=17 June 2015|title=Europe and the Crisis in Ukraine: Is the International Community Facing a New East–West Conflict?|journal=Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs|volume=VIII|issue=3|pages=75–87|doi=10.1080/23739770.2014.11446604|s2cid=142320061|access-date=23 October 2021|via=Israel Council on Foreign Relations}}</ref> The party declared in May 2014 that Ukraine should not receive any kind of support from Germany as long as there are fascists inside its government.<ref name="gazeta">{{cite web|url=http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/1,114881,15940883,Niemiecka_partia_Lewica__Ukraina_nie_powinna_dostawac.html|title=Niemiecka partia Lewica: Ukraina nie powinna dostawać pieniędzy od UE, dopóki rządzą nią faszyści|date=11 May 2014 |publisher=wiadomosci.gazeta.pl|access-date=23 November 2014}}</ref> Some members of the party (like MP Andrej Hunko) are strong supporters of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/wolfgang-gehrcke-und-andrej-hunko-in-der-ostukraine-linken-abgeordnete-auf-abenteuertour-im-kriegsgebiet/11400156.html|title=Linken-Abgeordnete auf Abenteuertour im Kriegsgebiet|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online|date=20 February 2015|language=de|access-date=22 October 2019|last1=Meisner|first1=Matthias}}</ref> The party also takes a friendly stance towards China;<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Kastner |first=Jens |date=20 April 2023 |title=China finds unlikely allies in Germany's far right and far left |work=Nikkei Asia |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/China-finds-unlikely-allies-in-Germany-s-far-right-and-far-left |access-date=12 May 2023}}</ref> Sevim Dağdelen, deputy leader of The Left in the Bundestag, criticized EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen's speech calling for a new EU policy towards China, saying that "[t]he EU and its member states want to challenge the emerging power China, including through military means."<ref name=":0" />

== Political stance ==
The Left is generally considered a left-wing, [[Social:Big tent|big tent]] party. This party is sometimes considered part of the German "[[Social:Centre-left politics|centre-left]]" camp.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Ákos Moravánszky |editor2=Christian Schmid |editor3=Lukasz Stanek |title=Urban Revolution Now: Henri Lefebvre in Social Research and Architecture |date=2014 |page=283 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor=Sara Ceyhan |title=How German Parties Select Candidates of Immigrant Origin: Neutrality, Opening Or Closure? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VnkGEAAAQBAJ&dq=centre-left+die+linke&pg=PA200 |quote= ... Center-left parties, such as the SPD, BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN, and DIE LINKE, are believed to be more open to IO candidates than political parties further on the center-right of the political spectrum ... |date=2020 |page=200 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=9783030594510 }}</ref> It has been described as "far-left" by journalists in some news outlets including the BBC,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30342441|title=Die Linke triumph: Mixed reaction as German far-left gains power|work=BBC News|date=5 December 2014}}</ref> Euronews,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/11/20/far-left-die-linke-take-charge-of-german-region/|title=Far-left Die Linke take charge of German region|date=20 November 2014}}</ref> ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/17/german-elections-die-linke-party|title=Die Linke party wins German votes by standing out from crowd|website=TheGuardian.com|date=17 September 2009}}</ref> and {{Lang|de|Der Spiegel}},<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-left-party-strong-but-shunned-by-mainstream-a-922870.html|title=German Left Party Strong But Shunned by Mainstream|newspaper=Der Spiegel|date=19 September 2013|last1=Hawley|first1=Charles}}</ref> and is considered to be left-wing populist by some researchers.<ref name="keating"/><ref>Rooduijn, Matthijs, Andrea L.P. Pirro, Daphne Halikiopoulou, Caterina Froio, Stijn van Kessel, Sarah L. de Lange, Cas Mudde, and Paul Taggart (2023). The PopuList: A Database of Populist, Far-Left, and Far-Right Parties Using Expert-Informed Qualitative Comparative Classification (EiQCC). British Journal of Political Science, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123423000431.</ref>

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution ({{lang|de|Verfassungsschutz}}) does not regard the party as extremist or a threat to democracy;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.verfassungsschutz.niedersachsen.de/extremismus/linksextremismus/linksextremistische_parteien/offen-extremistische-zusammenschluesse-in-der-partei-die-linke-126453.html|title=Offen extremistische Zusammenschlüsse in der Partei DIE LINKE. &#124; Verfassungsschutz Niedersachsen|website=www.verfassungsschutz.niedersachsen.de}}</ref> it monitors some of its more radical internal factions, such as the Communist Platform and the Socialist Left, on account of extremist tendencies, as do some states' constitutional authorities.<ref>[http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/de/publikationen/verfassungsschutzbericht/ Verfassungsschutzbericht reports] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220215742/http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/de/publikationen/verfassungsschutzbericht/ |date=20 February 2008 }}, 2007–2015, Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz</ref>

==Structure==
[[File:Erfurter Parteitag Juni 2022 - 52171211902 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Janine Wissler (left) and Martin Schirdewan at the 2022 federal party conference]]
[[File:Erfurter Parteitag Juni 2022 - 52168834377.jpg|thumb|The 2022 party conference]]
The Left is organised into branches in each of the 16 states. The party has smaller branches on a local level, for which the corresponding state branches are responsible. These branches usually organise across a district, city, or (in [[Place:Berlin|Berlin]]), borough. The lowest unit of the party is the grassroots organization, which, depending on the density of membership, can include a residential area, a city or an entire district.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteistruktur/kommissionen/|title=Kommissionen|publisher=The Left}}</ref> The party has a youth wing, [[Organization:Left Youth Solid|Left Youth Solid]], and a student wing known as The Left.SDS. The party is also affiliated with a number of left-wing think tanks, education, and policy groups, most prominently the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

The party is formally led by a 26-member Party Executive Committee (PEC), of which seven are members of the party's leadership, the executive board. This includes two federal co-chairpersons, of which at least one is required by statute to be female. Convention also dictates that one leader should come from the Eastern states and one from the west, though this is not an official rule. The PEC is elected by a regular party congress, which also discusses and determines the party platform and rules on basic political and organisational matters.<ref name="BPBorganisation">{{cite web|url=https://www.bpb.de/politik/grundfragen/parteien-in-deutschland/die-linke/42135/organisation|title=The organization of the LEFT|date=5 January 2021|language=de|website=Federal Agency for Civic Education}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.die-linke.de/party/party-congress/|title=Party Congress|publisher=The Left}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/linkspartei-wissler-kandidaten-vorsitz-pellmann-100.html|title=Early elections at the Left Party: Who is running for party leadership?|date=25 June 2022|language=de|website=Deutschlandfunk}}</ref> The leadership group of the party's Bundestag faction is considered a second centre of power within the party, and conflicts sometimes arise between the federal leadership and parliamentary group. This most prominently happened in 2015, which resulted in Bundestag co-leaders Sahra Wagenknecht and Dietmar Bartsch being elected as lead candidates for the 2017 federal election, defeating federal co-chairs Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger.<ref name="BPBorganisation"/>

The Left's internal structure underwent a transitional phase after its formation in 2007 in order to integrate the different groups. Western party organisations were initially strongly favoured in party congresses, which strengthened the "fundamental opposition" faction of Oskar Lafontaine. These provisions expired at the 2014 party congress. The dual leadership, initially a temporary measure, was adopted permanently in 2010. This was not initially the case for the parliamentary group leadership, which was co-chaired by both Gregor Gysi and Lafontaine between 2005 and 2009, and solely by Gysi thereafter. After his retirement in 2015, however, the dual chairmanship was reintroduced.<ref name="BPBorganisation"/> The executive committee originally comprised 44 members, but was reduced to 26 at the 2022 party congress. The number of deputy leaders was originally four, increased to six in 2018, and reduced to three in 2022.

The Left is noted for having an unusually strong and formalised system of internal factions, which are outlined in the party statutes. Factions with sufficiently large membership are entitled to send delegates to party congresses. In addition, there are around 40 working groups within the party.<ref name="BPBorganisation"/><ref name="Zus">{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteidemokratie/zusammenschluesse/|title=Federations|access-date=28 October 2021|language=de|website=The Left}}</ref>

Since June 2022, the composition of the Party Executive Committee has been as follows:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteidemokratie/parteivorstand/parteivorstand-2022-2024/mitglieder-des-parteivorstandes/|title=Members of the Party Executive|publisher=The Left|access-date=25 August 2022}}</ref>

{| class=wikitable style="width:40em; text-align:center"
! style="width:12em;" | Position
! style="width:28em;" | Member(s)
|-
! Party Chair
| {{div col |colwidth=12em}}
* Janine Wissler
* Martin Schirdewan
{{div col end}}
|-
! Deputy Party Chair
|
* Ates Gürpinar
* Lorenz Gösta Beutin
* Katina Schubert
* Jana Seppelt
|-
! Federal Party Secretary
| {{ill|Tobias Bank|de}}
|-
! Federal Treasurer
| {{ill|Harald Wolf (politician)|lt=Harald Wolf|de|Harald Wolf}}
|-
! Member of the Party Executive Committee
| {{div col |colwidth=12em}}
* Didem Aydurmus
* Christine Buchholz
* Janis Ehling
* {{ill|Kerstin Eisenreich|de}}
* {{ill|Wulf Gallert|de}}
* Kathrin Gebel
* Margit Glasow
* Bettina Gutperl
* Stefan Hartmann
* Sebastian Koch
* Dana Lützkendorf
* Tupac Orellana Mardones
* Ellen Ost
* Luigi Pantisano
* Jan Richter
* {{ill|Maja Tegeler|de}}
* Frank Tempel
* Daphne Weber
{{div col end}}
|}

The Council of Elders (''Ältestenrat'') is an advisory body formed in December 2007. Lothar Bisky stated the council would "focus on the development of the party, allied and international issues, the history of the left and possible consequences for the socialist program." Its current composition is as follows:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteistruktur/kommissionen/aeltestenrat/|title=Ältestenrat|publisher=The Left}}</ref>

{| class=wikitable style="width:40em; text-align:center"
! style="width:12em;" | Position
! style="width:28em;" | Member(s)
|-
! Chair
| Hans Modrow
|-
! Vice Chair
| {{ill|Christina Emmrich|de}}<br />Wolfgang Grabowski<br />Ursula Schumm-Garling
|-
! Member of the<br />Council of Elders
| {{div col|colwidth=12em}}
Gretchen Binus<br />Edeltraut Felfe<br />Friederun Fessen<br />Johanna Klages<br />Evelin Nowitzki<br />Bärbel Schindler-Saefkow<br />Anni Seidl<br />Sybille Stamm<br />
{{ill|Joachim Bischoff|de}}<br />{{ill|Wolfgang Gehrcke|de}}<br />{{ill|Heiner Halberstadt|de}}<br />{{ill|Dieter Hooge|de}}<br />{{ill|Hermann Klenner|de}}<br />Bruno Mahlow<br />{{ill|Ulrich Maurer (politician)|lt=Ulrich Maurer|de|Ulrich Maurer (Politiker)}}<br />{{ill|Gregor Schirmer|de}}
{{div col end}}
|}

===Leadership history===
{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center"
! colspan=3| Federal chairpersons
! Term start
! Term end
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|
| [[File:Lothar Bisky PDS, Variante b.JPG|60x60px]]<br />Lothar Bisky
| [[File:Oskar Lafontaine (DIE LINKE) in Hamm (10571425525).jpg|60x60px]]<br />Oskar Lafontaine
| {{start date|2007|06|16|df=y}}
| {{end date|2010|05|15|df=y}}
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|
| [[File:2018-06-09 Bundesparteitag Die Linke 2018 in Leipzig by Sandro Halank–115.jpg|60x60px]]<br />Gesine Lötzsch
| [[File:2018-06-09 Bundesparteitag Die Linke 2018 in Leipzig by Sandro Halank–054.jpg|60x60px]]<br />Klaus Ernst
| {{start date|2010|05|15|df=y}}
| {{end date|2012|06|02|df=y}}
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|
| [[File:2018-06-09 Bundesparteitag Die Linke 2018 in Leipzig by Sandro Halank–045.jpg|60x60px]]<br />Katja Kipping
| [[File:2018-06-09 Bundesparteitag Die Linke 2018 in Leipzig by Sandro Halank–085.jpg|60x60px]]<br />Bernd Riexinger
| {{start date|2012|06|02|df=y}}
| {{end date|2021|02|27|df=y}}
|-
| rowspan=2 bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|
| [[File:Susanne Hennig-Wellsow 2021-02-27 Digitalparteitag Die Linke 2021 by Martin Heinlein - Cropped.png|60x60px]]<br />Susanne Hennig-Wellsow
| rowspan=3| [[File:Janine Wissler 2 - 2021-02-27 Digitalparteitag Die Linke 2021 by Martin Heinlein (square).jpg|60x60px]]<br />Janine Wissler
| {{start date|2021|02|27|df=y}}
| {{end date|2022|04|20|df=y}}
|-
| ''Vacant''
| {{end date|2022|04|20|df=y}}
| {{end date|2022|06|25|df=y}}
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|
| [[File:Martin Schirdewan, Parteitag Bonn 2019 (cropped).jpg|60x60px|Martin Schirdewan (2019)]]<br />Martin Schirdewan
| {{start date|2022|06|25|df=y}}
| Incumbent

|}
{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center"
! colspan=3| Bundestag chairpersons
! Term start
! Term end
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|
| [[File:13-06-10-dosb-wahlhearing-vorauswahl-03.jpg|60x60px]]<br />Gregor Gysi
| [[File:Oskar Lafontaine (DIE LINKE) in Hamm (10571425525).jpg|60x60px]]<br />Oskar Lafontaine
| {{start date|2005|10|18|df=y}}
| {{end date|2009|10|27|df=y}}
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|
| colspan=2| [[File:13-06-10-dosb-wahlhearing-vorauswahl-03.jpg|60x60px]]<br />Gregor Gysi
| {{start date|2009|10|27|df=y}}
| {{end date|2015|10|13|df=y}}
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|
| rowspan=2| [[File:2018-06-09 Bundesparteitag Die Linke 2018 in Leipzig by Sandro Halank–141.jpg|60x60px]]<br />Dietmar Bartsch
| [[File:2018-06-09 Bundesparteitag Die Linke 2018 in Leipzig by Sandro Halank–126.jpg|60x60px]]<br />Sahra Wagenknecht
| {{start date|2015|10|13|df=y}}
| {{end date|2019|11|12|df=y}}
|-
| bgcolor={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|
| [[File:Amira Mohamed Ali Rheda.jpg|60x60px]]<br />Amira Mohamed Ali
| {{start date|2019|11|12|df=y}}
| 6 December 2023
|-
| colspan=5| ''Faction dissolved''
|}

===State branches===
The party has branches in all 16 states. As of 31 December 2022, the membership of the branches is as follows.<ref name="branchmem">{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/ueber-uns/mitgliederzahlen-2022/|title=Membership Figures 2022|publisher=The Left|access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! State
! class="unsortable" | Leader(s)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteidemokratie/gliederungen-landesverbaende/ |title=Organizations |publisher=The Left |access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref>
! Members
|-
| {{flag|Baden-Württemberg}}
| {{ill|Sahra Mirow|de}}<br />Elwis Capece 
| style="text-align: right;" | 3,749
|-
| {{flag|Bavaria}}
| Kathrin Flach-Gomez<br />{{ill|Adelheid Rupp|de}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 3,058
|-
| {{flag|Berlin}}
| {{ill|Franziska Brychcy|de}}<br />{{ill|Maximilian Schirmer|de}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 7,100
|-
| {{flag|Brandenburg}}
| {{ill|Katharina Slanina|de}}<br />{{ill|Sebastian Walter|de|Sebastian Walter (Politiker, 1990)}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 4,534
|-
| {{flag|Bremen}}
| Anna Fischer<br />{{ill|Christoph Spehr|de}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 667
|-
| {{flag|Hamburg}}
| {{ill|Sabine Ritter|de}}<br />{{ill|Thomas Iwan|de}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 1,711
|-
| {{flag|Hesse}}
| {{ill|Christiane Böhm|de}}<br />Jakob Migenda
| style="text-align: right;" | 3,079
|-
| {{flag|Lower Saxony}}
| Franziska Junker <br />Thorben Peters
| style="text-align: right;" | 2,919
|-
| {{flag|Mecklenburg-Vorpommern}}
| {{ill|Peter Ritter (politician)|lt=Peter Ritter|arz|پيتير ريتير|de|Peter Ritter (Politiker)}}<br />{{ill|Vanessa Müller|de|Vanessa Müller (Politikerin)}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 2,766
|-
| {{flag|North Rhine-Westphalia}}
| Kathrin Vogler<br />Sascha H. Wagner 
| style="text-align: right;" | 7,764
|-
| {{flag|Rhineland-Palatinate}}
| Stefan Glander
| style="text-align: right;" | 1,478
|-
| {{flag|Saarland}}
| Barbara Spaniol
| style="text-align: right;" | 1,426
|-
| {{flag|Saxony}}
| {{ill|Susanne Schaper|de}}<br />Stefan Hartmann
| style="text-align: right;" | 6,559
|-
| {{flag|Saxony-Anhalt}}
| Janina Böttger<br />{{ill|Hendrik Lange|de|Hendrik_Lange_(Politiker)}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 2,833
|-
| {{flag|Schleswig-Holstein}}
| Susanne Spethmann<br />Luca Grimminger
| style="text-align: right;" | 1,093
|-
| {{flag|Thuringia}}
| {{ill|Ulrike Grosse-Röthig|de}}<br />{{ill|Christian Schaft|de}}
| style="text-align: right;" | 3,478
|-
! colspan=2| Total
! style="text-align: right;" | 54,214
|}

===Internal factions===
The Left is noted for having an unusually strong and formalised system of internal factions, which are outlined in the party statutes. Factions with sufficiently large membership are entitled to send delegates to party congresses. The party is traditionally split between reformist factions, such as the Reform Left Network and Forum for Democratic Socialism, and orthodox factions such as the Communist Platform, Anti-Capitalist Left, and Socialist Left. The Emancipatory Left occupies a middle position.<ref name="BPBorganisation"/><ref name="Zus"/>

However, starting from 2015, the party underwent an internal realignment due to the preeminence of Sahra Wagenknecht, who advocated a return to a fundamentally working-class focus and populist positions in the wake of the European refugee crisis and rise of the [[Earth:Alternative for Germany|Alternative for Germany]]. In response, many eastern reformers and members of radical left factions allied in the broad "Movement Left" (''Bewegungslinke''), committed to social movements, environmentalism, and [[Philosophy:Intersectionality|intersectional]] progressivism.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1091290.stroemungen-in-der-linkspartei-die-neue-unuebersichtlichkeit.html|title=The new confusion|date=15 June 2018|language=de|website=Neues Deutschland}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.counterfire.org/articles/analysis/23601-where-is-germany-s-die-linke-heading|title=Where is Germany's Die Linke heading?|date=11 November 2022|website=Counterfire}}</ref> The Movement Left broadly dominates the party, with no members of the Wagenknecht faction elected to the executive at the 2022 congress.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1164852.linke-parteitag-bewegungslinke-in-der-mehrheit.html|title=Left Congress: Movement Left in the majority|date=26 June 2022|language=de|website=Neues Deutschland}}</ref>

{| class=wikitable style="font-size:90%; text-align:center"
! Faction
! Description
|-
| '''Anti-Capitalist Left'''<br />''{{small|Antikapitalische Linke (AKL)}}''
| A current founded in 2006 which seeks to strengthen the party's anti-capitalist profile. The AKL describe themselves as "movement-oriented" and seek cooperation with extra-parliamentary parties and left-wing movements. They are aligned with the orthodox left-wing of The Left, and believe that the party should only participate in coalition governments if a set of minimum criteria are met, including no [[Finance:Privatization|privatization]], no military operations, and no cuts to social welfare or the public service.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.antikapitalistische-linke.de/|title=akl Anti-Capitalist Left|access-date=28 October 2021|language=de|website=Anti-Capitalist Left}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteidemokratie/zusammenschluesse/antikapitalistische-linke/|title=Federations: Anti-Capitalist left|access-date=28 October 2021|language=de|website=The Left}}</ref><ref name="BPBorganisation"/> The BfV classifies the AKL as an extremist association. In 2020, the AKL had 1,060 members.<ref name="BfV2020">{{cite web|url=https://www.verfassungsschutz.de/SharedDocs/publikationen/DE/2021/verfassungsschutzbericht-2020.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=5|title=Federal Constitutional Protection Report 2020|date=15 June 2021|publisher=Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution}}</ref> Prominent members include Tobias Pflüger, Cornelia Hirsch, Ulla Jelpke, Lucy Redler, and Niema Movassat.
|-
| '''Communist Platform'''<br />''{{small|Kommunistische Plattform (KPF)}}''
| Originally formed as a tendency of the PDS. It is less critical of German Democratic Republic than other currents and upholds orthodox Marxist positions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteidemokratie/zusammenschluesse/kommunistische-plattform/|title=Communist Platform|access-date=28 October 2021|language=de|website=The Left}}</ref><ref name="BPBorganisation"/> A "strategic goal" of the KPF is "building a new socialist society, using the positive experiences of [[Social:Real socialism|real socialism]] and to learn from mistakes".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dielinke-brandenburg.de/fileadmin/Arbeitsgemeinschaften/Beschluss_der_Landeskonferenz_der_KPF.rtf|title=Beschluss der Landeskonferenz der Kommunistischen Plattform der Partei DIE LINKE des Landes Brandenburg vom 29.9.2007}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Its primary leader is Sahra Wagenknecht, former co-leader of the party's Bundestag faction. The BfV classifies the KPF as an extremist association. In 2020, the group had 1,122 members.<ref name="BfV2020"/>
|-
| '''Democratic Socialist Forum'''<br />''{{small|Forum demokratischer Sozialismus (fds)}}''
| A [[Social:Democratic socialism|democratic socialist]] group<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forum-ds.de/|title=Forum Democratic Socialism|access-date=28 October 2021|language=de|website=Forum Democratic Socialism}}</ref> considered part of the reformist wing of the party.<ref name="BPBorganisation"/> Originally founded in 2002 as the ''Forum Second Renewal'', it was reformed in 2007 to promote the positions of the PDS within the new Left party.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteidemokratie/zusammenschluesse/forum-demokratischer-sozialismus/|title=Forum Democratic Socialism|access-date=28 October 2021|language=de|website=The Left}}</ref> It places emphasis on civil rights and social progressivism, and supports cooperation with the SPD and Greens. Prominent members include Dietmar Bartsch and Luise Neuhaus-Wartenberg.
|-
| '''Ecological Platform'''<br />''{{small|Ökologische Plattform (ÖPF)}}''
| A current which promotes [[Social:Green politics|green politics]] and [[Social:Eco-socialism|eco-socialism]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteidemokratie/zusammenschluesse/oekologische-plattform/|title=Ecological Platform|access-date=28 October 2021|language=de|website=The Left}}</ref> Founded in 1994 within the PDS, it is critical of capitalism and supports [[Earth:Degrowth|degrowth]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oekologische-plattform.de/uber-uns-seite/|title=About us|access-date=28 October 2021|language=de|website=Ecological Platform}}</ref> The group describes itself as "a forum for all left-wing ecologists", and is expressly open to non-Left party members.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oekologische-plattform.de/mitgliedschaft/|title=Membership|access-date=28 October 2021|language=de|website=Ecological Platform}}</ref>
|-
| '''Emancipatory Left'''<br />''{{small|Emanzipatorische Linke (Ema.Li)}}''
| A [[Philosophy:Libertarian socialism|libertarian socialist]] current co-founded in May 2009 by Katja Kipping, Caren Lay, and Julia Bonk.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307155525/https://emanzipatorische-linke.org/|url=http://www.emanzipatorische-linke.org/|title=Ema.Li|archive-date=7 March 2021|language=de|website=Emancipatory Left}}</ref> They advocate [[Social:Radical democracy|radical democracy]], a decentralized society, and are supportive of [[Social:Social movement|social movement]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteidemokratie/zusammenschluesse/emanzipatorische-linke/|title=Emancipatory Left|access-date=28 October 2021|language=de|website=The Left}}</ref> Ema.Li is described as holding a "middle position" between the reformist and orthodox wings of the party.<ref name="BPBorganisation"/> The group accepts members of other factions as well as non-party members. Besides its co-founders, prominent members include Christoph Spehr and Anne Helm.
|-
| '''{{nowrap|Gera Dialogue/Socialist Dialogue}}'''<br />''{{small|Geraer Dialog/Sozialistischer Dialog (GD/SD)}}''
| Formed in February 2003 as a reaction to the increasing influence of reform-oriented groups such as the Reform Left Network. They opposed a shift away from Marxism and what they feared as a move toward a [[Social:Social market economy|social market economy]] model.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archiv2007.sozialisten.de/politik/publikationen/kpf-mitteilungen/view_html/n0/pp1/bs1/zid6450|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064108/http://archiv2007.sozialisten.de/politik/publikationen/kpf-mitteilungen/view_html/n0/pp1/bs1/zid6450|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 March 2016|title=Die Linkspartei - Gera als Weltanschauung|date=4 March 2016}}</ref> As of 2021, the faction is only partly recognised within the party.<ref name="Zus"/> The BfV classified GD/SD as an extremist organisation in 2018, but did not include the group in its 2020 report.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.verfassungsschutz.de/embed/vsbericht-2017.pdf|title=Report 2017|publisher=Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution|access-date=31 March 2020|archive-date=26 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180726194219/https://www.verfassungsschutz.de/embed/vsbericht-2017.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="BfV2020"/>
|-
| '''Marxist Forum'''<br />''{{small|Marxistisches Forum (MF)}}''
| Founded in 1995 within the PDS to promote classical [[Philosophy:Marxism|Marxism]]. It is critical of the reform-oriented wings and positions of the party and is often sympathetic to the GDR. As of 2021, the faction is only partly recognised within the party.<ref name="Zus"/> The BfV classified the group as "orthodox communist" and extremist in its 2018 report, and reported that it had 400 members.<ref name="BfV2018"/> The Marxist Forum did not appear in the BfV's 2020 report.<ref name="BfV2020"/>
|-
| '''Reform Left Network'''<br />''{{small|Netzwerk Reformlinke}}''
| Originally formed in 2003 as a tendency within PDS promoting [[Philosophy:Social democracy|social democracy]].<ref name="reformlinke">{{cite web|url=http://archiv2007.sozialisten.de/partei/strukturen/agigs/netzwerk_reformlinke/index.htm|title=Netzwerk Reformlinke|publisher=sozialisten.de|access-date=25 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180226152006/http://archiv2007.sozialisten.de/partei/strukturen/agigs/netzwerk_reformlinke/index.htm|archive-date=26 February 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is closely associated with the Democratic Socialist Forum, which was formed around the same time. The Reform Left Network strongly supports involvement in coalition governments with the SPD and Greens. It includes a number of prominent Left politicians, including Bundestag Vice-President Petra Pau, and Saxony-Anhalt branch leader Wulf Gallert, as well as Jan Korte, Stefan Liebich, and Halina Wawzyniak. As of 2021, the faction is no longer recognised within the party.<ref name="Zus"/>
|-
| '''Socialist Left'''<br />''{{small|Sozialistische Linke (SL)}}''
| Includes [[Finance:Keynesian economics|Keynesian]] leftists and [[Social:Eurocommunism|reform communists]], and seeks to orient the party toward the labour movement. It is considered part of the left wing of the party.<ref name="BPBorganisation"/> Many leaders of the Socialist Left were formerly members of WASG, and the group models itself on the Dutch Socialist Party and the Italian Communist Refoundation Party.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/parteidemokratie/zusammenschluesse/sozialistische-linke/|title=Socialist Left|access-date=28 October 2021|language=de|website=The Left}}</ref> The revolutionary socialist current Marx21 organises within SL, as it does not meet the requirements to become its own caucus. The BfV classifies the current as an extremist association. In 2020, the group had 1,000 members.<ref name="BfV2020"/> Leading members include Janine Wissler, Thomas Händel, Jürgen Klute, and Christine Buchholz.
|}

In addition to the recognised platforms, a number of smaller groups have aligned with The Left and its predecessors, such as the Trotskyist Socialist Alternative (SAV), though the membership applications of some of its leaders, including Lucy Redler, were initially rejected. ''Der Funke'', supporters of the [[Organization:International Marxist Tendency|International Marxist Tendency]] (IMT) in Germany, pursue [[Social:Entryism|entryist]] strategies in the party, while the Fourth International-affiliated International Socialist Organisation (ISO) also works inside The Left.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Foundation of an International Socialist Organisation (ISO)|url=https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article4799|publisher=International Viewpoint|access-date=28 August 2021|date=9 December 2016}}</ref> Other left-wing groups, such as the German Communist Party (DKP), have formed local alliances with the party, but have not joined. The Association for Solidarity Perspectives (VsP) also supports the party.

==Membership and electorate==
{{Image frame 
 | caption=Membership of The Left over time
 | content = {{Graph:Chart
 | width = 300
 | height = 150
 | type = line
 | xAxisAngle = -45
 | xAxisTitle = Year
 | yAxisTitle = Membership
 | yAxisMin = 0 <!--Not starting at zero exaggerates the changes-->
 | x = 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
 | y = 71711, 75968, 78046, 73658, 69458, 63761, 63756, 60551, 58989, 58910, 62300, 62016, 61055, 60350, 60681 <!--Percentage of electorate is better that absolute numbers.-->
 | interpolate = monotone
 | xGrid = yes
 | yGrid = yes
 | colors = #BE3075
}}
}}
According to regular studies by the Free University of Berlin, in 2021 The Left's membership comprised 17% blue-collar workers and 32% white-collar workers, similar to the SPD, while 35% were civil servants and 10% self-employed. 51% of party members held an academic degree, and 33% were organized in trade unions.<ref name="BPBsurvey2021">{{cite web|url=https://www.bpb.de/politik/grundfragen/parteien-in-deutschland/zahlen-und-fakten/140358/soziale-zusammensetzung|title=The social composition of the parties' membership|date=21 October 2022|access-date=18 June 2023|language=de|website=Federal Agency for Civic Education}}</ref> Prior to the merger with WASG, the voting base of PDS was an approximate cross-section of the population, favoured somewhat by more educated voters. Since the merger, The Left has become more favoured among working-class and poorer voters, which made up the core of WASG's support.<ref name="BPBelectorate"/>

Since the mid-2010s, the party has gained significant popularity among youth. Prior to the merger, PDS had by far the highest proportion of members over 60 years of any party, at 68%, and the lowest proportion of members under 30, at just 4%. By 2021, these numbers had fallen and risen, respectively, to 40% and 23%. The Left now is tied with the FDP in proportion of members under 30.<ref name="BPBsurvey2021"/> Two-thirds of members who joined the party between 2016 and 2018 were under 35 years of age. In the 2021 federal election, The Left was twice as popular among voters under 25 than among voters over 70.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-election-results-facts-and-figures/a-59343789|title=Germany's election results: Facts and figures|date=28 September 2021|website=Deutsche Welle}}</ref>

The PDS inherited 170,000 members from the SED in 1990, but suffered constant decline from that point until the merger with WASG. Upon its formation, The Left had 71,000 members, of which 11,500 had been WASG members. Over the next two years the party grew, reaching a peak of 78,000 in 2009, after which point numbers began to decline. In 2016, the party had 59,000 members. This trend temporarily reversed following the 2017 federal election, and the party gained several thousand new members for a total of 62,300 in 2019;<ref name="BPBorganisation"/> however, membership shrank again to 60,350 in December 2020.<ref name="membership">{{cite web|url=https://www.die-linke.de/partei/ueber-uns/|title=About Us|access-date=15 April 2021|publisher=The Left}}</ref>

===Geography===
[[File:Karte btw linke17z endg.svg|thumb|Results for the second votes by constituency in the 2017 federal election]]
A large part of The Left's base and membership reside in the new states (the former GDR). The voting base of the PDS was limited almost entirely to the east; upon its formation, the vast majority of The Left's western membership came from WASG. However, the party has grown in the west in the years since: while in 2005, the Left.PDS list won just 45.5% of its votes in the western states, this grew to 57.7% in 2009, and 65.4% in 2017. Between 2016 and 2018, 72% of new party members were from the western states, 15% from the east, and 13% from Berlin. During this period, the party's membership total in the west exceeded that of the east for the first time.<ref name="ND2018">{{cite web|url=https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1090472.mitgliederentwicklung-der-linkspartei-die-linke-wird-juenger-und-westdeutscher.html|title=The Left is getting younger and more West German|date=7 June 2018|language=de|website=Neues Deutschland}}</ref> As of 2021, 50% of The Left's members are from the west, 37% from the east, and 13% from Berlin.<ref name="branchmem"/>

Despite this, on the state level, the party has been marginalised in the west since making several breakthroughs in 2007–2010. Since 2010, it has lost representation in the Landtags of Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Schleswig-Holstein. Generally growing popularity in the west has also been offset by major losses in most of its eastern heartland since 2014.<ref name="BPBelectorate">{{cite web|url=https://www.bpb.de/themen/FB25SL,0,DIE_LINKE_%96_W%E4hlerschaft_und_Mitglieder.html|title=Election results and electorate of the LEFT|date=16 July 2018|language=de|website=Federal Agency for Civic Education}}</ref>

The Left's voter demographics are skewed strongly by region. In the east, Left voters and members trend much older: in 2018, 44% of the party's members in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were 76 years or older.<ref name="ND2018"/> Meanwhile, in the west, the party membership is male-dominated, with two-thirds of western members being men.<ref name="BPBelectorate"/><ref name="branchmem"/>

===Women===
Women have been well-represented amongst elected representatives from The Left. The party's gender quota requires that at least half of the party's ruling bodies and representatives should be female. In 2021, the party elected two women, Janine Wissler and Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, as federal co-chairs for the first time. Female membership in the PDS was stable at around 45% during the 1990s and 2000s, far higher than any other party,<ref name="BPBsurvey2021"/> but fell to 39% post-merger in 2007 since the large majority of WASG members were male.<ref name="BPBorganisation"/> Nonetheless, the party had the highest representation of women in its membership until it was overtaken by the Greens in 2012. In 2021, 37% of Left members were female, compared to 42% for the Greens and 33% for the SPD.<ref name="BPBsurvey2021"/> After the 2009 election, the party's Bundestag group was 52.6% female, second only to the Greens (57.4%). In 2013, this increased slightly to 54.7%, which was the highest of any group.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundestag.de/bundestag/abgeordnete18/mdb_zahlen/frauen_maenner/260128|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415191337/https://www.bundestag.de/bundestag/abgeordnete18/mdb_zahlen/frauen_maenner/260128|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 April 2016|title=German Bundestag – women and men|date=September 2015|publisher=German Bundestag}}</ref> After both the 2017 and 2021 federal elections, The Left's group was 54% female, second to the Greens (58%).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundestag.de/abgeordnete/biografien/mdb_zahlen_19/frauen_maenner-529508|title=German Bundestag – women and men|date=July 2019|publisher=German Bundestag}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-the-bundestag-could-use-more-women/a-59374736|title=Opinion: The Bundestag could use more women|date=2 October 2021|website=Deutsche Welle}}</ref>

==Controversies==
===Observation by Constitutional Protection===
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (''Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz'', abbreviated as BfV or ''Verfassungsschutz'') is the German federal domestic security agency, tasked with intelligence-gathering on threats concerning the democratic order, the existence and security of the federation or one of its states. This includes monitoring and reporting on suspected extremist groups and political parties. Members of The Left and groups within the party have been periodically monitored, sometimes leading to controversy. The ''Verfassungsschutz'' does not consider the party in its entirety extremist, but monitors several of its internal factions and groupings. According to the 2018 report, these are the Communist Platform, Socialist Left, [[Working group|working group]] ''AG Cuba Sí'', the Anti-capitalist Left, Marxist Forum, and Gera Dialogue/Socialist Dialogue. The ''Verfassungsschutz'' also monitors Socialist Alternative and Marx21, which have links with the Anti-Capitalist Left and the Socialist Left, respectively.<ref name="BfV2018">{{cite web|url=https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/downloads/DE/publikationen/themen/sicherheit/vsb-2018-gesamt.html|title=Verfassungsschutzbericht 2018|date=26 June 2019|publisher=Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=January 2023}}

The 2007 ''Verfassungsschutz'' report commented that in practice the parliamentary party appears as to act as a "reform-oriented" left force.<ref>''[http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/download/SHOW/vsbericht_2007.pdf Verfassungsschutzbericht 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080920151144/http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/download/SHOW/vsbericht_2007.pdf |date=20 September 2008 }}'', Federal Ministry of the Interior.</ref>{{primary source inline|date=January 2023}} In the past, The Left was under observation by all western German states. In January 2008, Saarland became the first to cease observation.<ref name="welt.de" /> As of 2008, the authorities of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, and Lower Saxony considered The Left in its entirety to be extremist.<ref>[https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/linkeverfassungsschutz2.html Die Linke – keine Gefährdung für die Verfassung], tagesschau.de, 16. January 2008, accessed 16 March 2008</ref> In the five eastern states, The Left is not under surveillance, as state constitutional authorities see no indication of anti-constitutional tendencies in the bulk of the party; however, the Communist Platform is under observation in three eastern states.<ref name="Netzeitung-Juni">[http://www.netzeitung.de/deutschland/675695.html Neue Linke verunsichert Verfassungsschützer] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122182355/http://www.netzeitung.de/deutschland/675695.html |date=22 January 2009 }}, netzeitung.de, 18 June 2007, accessed 16 March 2008</ref>

Surveillance of party members has been a point of controversy. Bodo Ramelow, a prominent Left politician in Thuringia, was under surveillance until a court ruling in January 2008 that this was illegal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.justiz.nrw.de/nrwe/ovgs/vg_koeln/j2007/20_K_3077_06urteil20071213.html |title=Aktenzeichen: 20 K 3077/06, 20 K 6242/03 |publisher=Justiz.nrw.de |access-date=3 June 2012}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date=January 2023}}<ref name="welt.de">[https://www.welt.de/politik/article1562539/Beobachtung_von_Ramelow_ist_verboten.html Beobachtung von Linkspartei-Politiker verboten], Welt Online, 17 January 2008, accessed 16 March 2008</ref> In January 2012, {{Lang|de|Der Spiegel}} reported that 27 of the party's 76 Bundestag members were under surveillance, as well as 11 of the party's members of various state parliaments. This included nearly the entirety of the party's Bundestag leadership, federal co-leader Gesine Lötzsch, deputy leader Halina Wawzyniak, and Vice President of the Bundestag Petra Pau. Many of those under surveillance were not associated with acknowledged extremist factions of the party.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/alexander-dobrindt-csu-generalsekretaer-bringt-verbot-der-linken-ins-spiel/6126392.html |title=Alexander Dobrindt: CSU-Generalsekretär bringt Verbot der Linken ins Spiel |language=de |publisher=Handelsblatt |date=30 January 2012 |access-date=3 June 2012}}</ref><ref>[http://de.euronews.com/agenturmeldungen/1341447-verfassungsschutz-beobachtet-umfangreich-die-linke/]{{dead link|date=June 2012}}</ref> This surveillance was criticised by the SPD, Greens, and FDP; federal Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger described it as "intolerable".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/geheimdienst-verfassungsschutz-beobachtet-27-linken-abgeordnete-a-810651.html|title=Verfassungsschutz beobachtet 27 Linken-Abgeordnete|date=22 January 2012|publisher=Der Spiegel}}</ref> In October 2013, the Federal Constitutional Court deemed the surveillance of Bundestag members unconstitutional except in extraordinary circumstances, such as if the member was abusing their office to undermine the constitutional order, or otherwise actively fighting against it.<ref name="tagesspiegel">{{cite news|url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/innenministerium-prueft-konsequenzen-ueberwachung-von-ramelow-verfassungswidrig/8906370.html|title=Bundesverfassungsgericht verbietet Überwachung von Bodo Ramelow|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online|date=9 October 2013|publisher=tagesspiegel.de|access-date=23 November 2014}}</ref> Federal Minister of the Interior Thomas de Maizière subsequently announced that none of The Left's Bundestag members would be surveilled, even those affiliated with the factions considered extremist by the ''Verfassungsschutz''.<ref name="tagesschau">{{cite web|url=https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/linkspartei-verfassungsschutz100.html|title=Verfassungsschutz reagiert auf Urteil: Linken-Abgeordnete ohne Beobachtung – tagesschau.de|publisher=tagesschau.de|access-date=23 November 2014}}</ref>

===Extremism and populism===
Both media and political scientists have discussed whether The Left should be considered extremist in nature.<ref name="Eckhard Jesse: Die Linke,">See, for example, Frank Decker, Viola Neu: ''Handbuch der deutschen Parteien,'' VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2007, p. 323 ff.; Eckhard Jesse, Jürgen P. Lang: ''Die Linke – der smarte Extremismus einer deutschen Partei.'' Olzog Verlag, Munich 2008; for the past history of PDS: Steffen Kailitz: ''Politischer Extremismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland'', Wiesbaden 2004, p. 82 ff. and for suspicion of extremism in the party as a whole: [http://www.bpb.de/politik/extremismus/linksextremismus/158721/die-linke-meinungsbeitrag-von-eckhard-jesse Eckhard Jesse: ''Die Linke''], and a rebuke: [http://www.bpb.de/politik/extremismus/linksextremismus/156715/die-linke-meinungsbeitrag-von-richard-stoess Richard Stöss: ''Die Linke. Zur Beobachtung der Partei durch den Verfassungsschutz.'']</ref> Journalists from outlets including the BBC,<ref name="BBC-5-11-14">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30342441|title=Die Linke triumph: Mixed reaction as German far-left gains power|date=5 December 2014|publisher=BBC News}}</ref> ''{{wipe|The Guardian}}'',<ref name="Guardian-18-09-09">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/17/german-elections-die-linke-party|title=Die Linke party wins German votes by standing out from crowd|last=Connolly|first=Kate|date=18 September 2009|work={{wipe|The Guardian}}}}</ref> Euronews,<ref name="Euronews-20-11-14">{{cite web|url=https://www.euronews.com/2014/11/20/far-left-die-linke-take-charge-of-german-region|title=Far-left Die Linke take charge of German region|date=20 November 2014|publisher=Euronews}}</ref> and {{Lang|de|Der Spiegel}}<ref name="Spiegel-19-09-13">{{cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-left-party-strong-but-shunned-by-mainstream-a-922870.html|title=German Left Party a Would-Be Kingmaker|date=19 September 2013|publisher=Der Spiegel}}</ref> have described the party as far-left, while other journalists writing for the same publications (minus Der Spiegel) have referred to the party as left-wing.<ref>{{cite news |date= 4 January 2019 |title= German politicians targeted in mass data attack |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46757009.amp |work= BBC News |access-date= 7 December 2023 |quote= The main parliamentary groups including the ruling centre-right and centre-left parties, as well as The Greens, left-wing Die Linke and FDP.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Oltermann |first= Philip |date= 15 May 2023 |title= German Greens suffer setback in Bremen local election |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/15/german-greens-suffer-setback-in-bremen-local-election |work= The Guardian |access-date= 7 December 2023 |quote= This gives the centre-left the option to either continue governing with the Greens and the left-wing Die Linke, or form a “grand coalition” with the second-placed conservatives.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Sandford |first= Alasdair |date= 5 February 2020 |title= German state governor steps down after winning election with far-right help  |url= https://www.euronews.com/2020/02/05/german-politics-shaken-as-far-right-afd-becomes-kingmaker-in-eastern-state |work= Euronews |access-date= 7 December 2023 |quote= Early rounds of voting in the parliament led to expectations that the left-wing Die Linke party would stay in office as head of a “red-red-green” coalition.}}</ref> Among academics, there is a general consensus that at least some sections of the party are extremist; however, political scientist Richard Stöss states that they make up less than ten percent of the party membership – 5,000 of 62,000 members according to the BfV – and compete for resources among themselves, and there is little risk of these groups becoming dominant and exerting major influence over the party's leadership and platform.<ref>Richard Stöss: [http://www.bpb.de/politik/extremismus/linksextremismus/156715/die-linke-meinungsbeitrag-von-richard-stoess ''Die Linke. Zur Beobachtung der Partei durch den Verfassungsschutz.'']</ref> Eckhard Jesse states that, while The Left is far more accepting of the Basic Law than parties like the National Democratic Party of Germany, the presence of its extremist factions means the party overall represents a "soft left-wing extremism".<ref>Eckhard Jesse: [http://www.bpb.de/politik/extremismus/linksextremismus/158721/die-linke-meinungsbeitrag-von-eckhard-jesse ''Die Linke'']</ref> Political scientist Karl-Rudolf Korte states that the party is well-integrated within the constitutional order, and "has actually rendered considerable services to German democracy" through the integration of East German protest movement into the parliamentary system. Nonetheless, he criticises the party's continued association with extremist groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/gohlke-linke-afd-verfassungsschutz-1.4795496|title=Left Party: 'I wonder what threat the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is hallucinating'|date=12 February 2020|language=de|website=Süddeutsche Zeitung}}</ref>

The Left has also been characterised as [[Social:Left-wing populism|left-wing populist]]<ref name="keating">{{cite book|editor1=Michael Keating |editor2=David McCrone|title=The Crisis of Social Democracy in Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJskDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA140|year=2013|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0748665822|page=147}}</ref> by researchers such as Cas Mudde<ref>Cas Mudde: [http://www.bpb.de/apuz/30843/radikale-parteien-in-europa?p=all ''Radical Parties in Europe'']. In: ''From Politics and Contemporary History'' 45 (2008) 47, p. 12–18.</ref> and Tilman Mayer.<ref>Tilman Mayer: ''Left-wing populism as a challenge. For the demagogical siphoning of resentments''. In: ''The Political Opinion'', Nr. 465, August 2008, pp. 15–18, here: p. 15, 17 ([http://www.kas.de/wf/doc/kas_14310-544-1-30.pdf PDF]).</ref> Florian Hartleb states that the party is "social-populist".<ref>Florian Hartleb: ''Populism – a central characteristic of party politics in turbulent times?''. In: Friso Wielanga, Florian Hartleb (ed.): ''Populism in modern democracy. The Netherlands and Germany in comparison''. Waxmann, Münster u. a. 2011, {{ISBN|978-3-8309-2444-9}}, pp. 105–127, here: p. 117.</ref> According to Frank Decker, the party during the leadership of Oskar Lafontaine could be described as left-wing populist.<ref>Frank Decker: ''From a protest phenomenon to a permanent political phenomenon: right-wing and left-wing populism in Western Europe''. In: Uwe Backes, Alexander Gallus, Eckhard Jesse (ed.): ''Jahrbuch Extremismus & Demokratie'', 27th year (2015), Nomos, Baden-Baden 2015, {{ISBN|978-3-8487-2522-9}}, pp. 57–72, here: p. 59.</ref> In 2011, Bundestag deputy and later party co-leader Katja Kipping stated that she believed The Left needed "a double strategy [of] social-ecological restructuring plus left-wing populism" to become attractive to voters. She elaborated: "Left-wing populism means targeting those who are marginalized in our society in a targeted and pointed manner."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/linken-vize-katja-kipping-im-interview-wir-muessen-uns-der-gruenen-herausforderung-stellen/4070954.html|title=We have to face the green challenge|date=18 April 2011|publisher=Der Tagesspiegel}}</ref>

===Association with the SED===
The Left's position as the successor of the PDS and SED has made it subject to significant controversy and criticism, as well as claims that the party is sympathetic to the former GDR.<ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,650626,00.html Verdrängte Parteigeschichte: Plädoyer für eine Entzauberung der Linkspartei], spiegel.de, 25 September 2009, accessed 25 September 2009</ref> Prominent member Sahra Wagenknecht, who served as co-leader of the party's Bundestag group from 2015 to 2019, is well known for her controversial statements on this issue. In a 2009 interview, she rejected the characterisation of East Germany as a dictatorship or unconstitutional state ({{lang-de|[[Philosophy:Unrechtsstaat|Unrechtsstaat]]}}).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.welt.de/politik/article3954333/Sahra-Wagenknecht-verspottet-neoliberale-SPD.html|title=Sahra Wagenknecht mocks "neoliberal SPD"|date=19 June 2009|newspaper=Die Welt|last1=Hollstein|first1=Miriam}}</ref>

Other incidents include a walkout conducted in 2007 by the Left's delegation in the Landtag of Saxony during a German Unity Day ceremony<ref>{{cite web|author=Sächsischer Landtag |url=http://www.landtag.sachsen.de/de/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/1378_3646.aspx |title=Sächsischer Landtag feiert Tag der Deutschen Einheit – Festredner Joachim Gauck: "Freiheit wagen – Verantwortung leben" |publisher=Landtag.sachsen.de |date=13 April 2012 |access-date=3 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303151803/http://www.landtag.sachsen.de/de/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/1378_3646.aspx |archive-date=3 March 2012 }}</ref> in protest of the presence of Joachim Gauck, former East German pro-democracy campaigner and later Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records, who was the keynote speaker at the event.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bild.de/BILD/politik/2010/06/05/wulff-und-gauck-im-interview/kandidat-joachim-gauck/linke/warum-die-linke-gauck-nicht-waehlt.html |title=Kandidaten für das Amt des Bundespräsidenten: Warum "Die Linke" Joachim Gauck nicht wählt |language=de |publisher=Bild.de |date=4 June 2010 |access-date=3 June 2012}}</ref> The Left's state leader André Hahn claimed that Gauck did not deliver an "appropriate or balanced speech", arguing he had "an absolutely one-sided view of the GDR."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/sachsen-linke-boykottiert-einheitsfeier-wegen-gauck-rede/1054930.html|title=Left boycotts unity celebration over Gauck speech|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online|date=27 September 2007}}</ref>

==Election results==

===Federal Parliament (''Bundestag'')===
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! rowspan=2| Election
! colspan=2| Constituency
! colspan=2| Party list
! rowspan=2| Seats
! rowspan=2| +/–
! rowspan=2| Status
|-
! Votes
! %
! Votes
! %
|-
! 2009
| 4,791,124
| 11.1 (#3)
| 5,155,933
| 11.9 (#4)
| {{Composition bar|76|622|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 22
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! 2013
| 3,585,178
| 8.2 (#3)
| 3,755,699
| 8.6 (#3)
| {{Composition bar|64|631|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 12
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! 2017
| 3,966,035
| 8.6 (#4)
| 4,296,762
| 9.2 (#5)
| {{Composition bar|69|709|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 5
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! 2021
| 2,306,755
| 5.0 (#7)
| 2,269,993
| 4.9 (#7)
| {{Composition bar|39|735|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 30
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|}

===European Parliament===
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/–
|-
! '''2009'''
| 1,968,325
| 7.5 (#5)
| {{Composition bar|8|99|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 1
|-
! '''2014'''
| 2,167,641
| 7.4 (#4)
| {{Composition bar|7|96|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
! '''2019'''
| 2,056,010
| 5.5 (#5)
| {{Composition bar|5|96|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 2
|}

===State Parliaments (''Länder'')===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right"
|-
! State parliament
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/–
! Status
|-
! Baden-Württemberg
| align=center| 2021
| 173,295
| 3.6 (#6)
| {{Composition bar|0|154|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| align=center style="background:#ddd;"| No seats
|-
! Bavaria
| align=center| 2023
| 200,795
| 1.5 (#7)
| {{Composition bar|0|203|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| align=center style="background:#ddd;"| No seats
|-
! Berlin
| align=center| 2023
| 184,954
| 12.2 (#4)
| {{Composition bar|22|147|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 2
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! Brandenburg
| align=center| 2019
| 135,558
| 10.7 (#5)
| {{Composition bar|10|88|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 7
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! Bremen
| align=center| 2023
| 137,676
| {{nowrap|10.9 (#4)}}
| {{Composition bar|10|87|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| {{yes2|SPD–Greens–Left}}
|-
! Hamburg
| align=center| 2020
| 364,102
| 9.1 (#4)
| {{Composition bar|13|123|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 2
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! Hesse
| align=center| 2023
| 86,821
| 3.1 (#7)
| {{Composition bar|0|133|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 9
| align=center style="background:#ddd;"| {{nowrap|No seats}}
|-
! Lower Saxony
| align=center| 2022
| 98,585
| 2.7 (#6)
| {{Composition bar|0|146|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0 
| align=center style="background:#ddd;"| {{nowrap|No seats}}
|-
! {{nowrap|Mecklenburg-Vorpommern}}
| align=center| 2021
| 90,865
| 9.9 (#4)
| {{Composition bar|9|79|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 2
| {{yes2|SPD–Left}}
|-
! {{nowrap|North Rhine-Westphalia}}
| align=center| 2022
| 146,634
| 2.1 (#6)
| {{Composition bar|0|195|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| align=center style="background:#ddd;"| No seats
|-
! Rhineland-Palatinate
| align=center| 2021
| 48,210	
| 2.5 (#7)
| {{Composition bar|0|101|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| align=center style="background:#ddd;"| No seats
|-
! Saarland
| align=center| 2022
| 11,689
| 2.6 (#6)
| {{Composition bar|0|51|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 7
| align=center style="background:#ddd;"| No seats
|-
! Saxony
| align=center| 2019
| 224,354
| 10.4 (#3)
| {{Composition bar|14|119|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{nowrap|{{decrease}} 13}}
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! Saxony-Anhalt
| align=center| 2021
| 116,927
| 11.0 (#3)
| {{Composition bar|12|97|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 4
| {{no2|Opposition}}
|-
! Schleswig-Holstein
| align=center| 2022
| 23,035
| 1.7 (#7)
| {{Composition bar|0|69|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
| align=center style="background:#ddd;"| No seats
|-
! Thuringia
| align=center| 2019
| 343,736
| 31.0 (#1) 
| {{Composition bar|29|90|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 1
| {{yes2|Left–SPD–Greens}}
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+'''Best historic results for state parties'''
!State
!Seats / Total
! %
!Position/Gov.
!Year
!Lead Candidate
|-
| Baden-Württemberg
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|0|154|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 3.6 (#6)
| align=center style="background:#ddd;"| No seats
| style="text-align:center;"| 2021
| Sahra Mirow
|-
| Bavaria
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|0|187|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 4.4 (#6)
| align=center style="background:#ddd;"| No seats
| style="text-align:center;"| 2008
| Fritz Schmalzbauer
|-
| Berlin
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|33|141|hex={{party color|Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)}}}}
| 22.6 (#3)
| {{yes2|SPD–PDS}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 2001<br />{{small|(as PDS)}}
| Gregor Gysi (Deputy Governing Mayor 2002)
|-
| Brandenburg
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|26|88|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 27.2 (#2)
| {{yes2|SPD–The Left}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 2009
| Kerstin Kaiser
|-
| Bremen
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|10|84|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 11.3 (#4)
| {{yes2|SPD–Greens–Left}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 2019
| Kristina Vogt
|-
| Hamburg
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|13|123|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 9.1 (#4)
| {{no2|Opposition}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 2020
| Cansu Özdemir
|-
| Hesse
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|9|137|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 6.3 (#6)
| {{no2|Opposition}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 2018
| Janine Wissler<br />Jan Schalauske
|-
| Lower Saxony
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|11|152|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 7.1 (#5)
| {{no2|Opposition}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 2008
| Kreszentia Flauger
|-
| {{nowrap|Mecklenburg-Vorpommern}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|20|71|hex={{party color|Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)}}}}
| 24.4 (#3)
| {{yes2|SPD–PDS}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 1998<br />{{small|(as PDS)}}
| Helmut Holter (Deputy Minister-President 1998–2002)
|-
| {{nowrap|North Rhine-Westphalia}}
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|11|181|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 5.6 (#5)
| {{no2|Opposition}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 2010
| Bärbel Beuermann
|-
| Rhineland-Palatinate
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|0|101|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 3,0 (#5)
| align=center style="background:#ddd;"| No seats
| style="text-align:center;"| 2011
| Robert Drumm<br />Tanja Krauth
|-
| Saarland
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|11|51|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 21.3 (#3)
| {{no|Opposition Leader}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 2009
| Oskar Lafontaine
|-
| Saxony
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|31|124|hex={{party color|Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)}}}}
| 23.6 (#2)
| {{no|Opposition Leader}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 2004<br />{{small|(as PDS)}}
| Peter Porsch
|-
| Saxony-Anhalt
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|25|116|hex={{party color|Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)}}}}
| 19.6 (#3)
| {{partial|SPD minority}}<br /><small>''with PDS confidence and supply''</small>
| style="text-align:center;"| 1998<br />{{small|(as PDS)}}
| Petra Sitte
|-
| Schleswig-Holstein
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|6|95|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 6.0 (#5)
| {{no2|Opposition}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 2009
| Antje Jansen
|-
| Thuringia
| style="text-align:center;"| {{composition bar|29|90|hex={{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| 31.0 (#1)
| {{yes|Left–SPD–Greens minority}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 2019
| Bodo Ramelow (Minister-President 2014–)
|}

====State results timeline====
{{hidden begin
|title = State parliaments
|titlestyle = background:lightgrey; text-align:center;
}}
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}

'''Baden-Württemberg'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2011'''
| 139,700
| 2.8
| {{Composition bar|0|138|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2016'''
| 156,211
| 2.9
| {{Composition bar|0|138|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2021'''
| 173,317
| 3.6
| {{Composition bar|0|138|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|}
{{col-2}}

'''Bavaria'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2008'''
| 461,755
| 4.4
| {{Composition bar|0|187|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2013'''
| 251,097
| 2.1
| {{Composition bar|0|180|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2018'''
| 435,949
| 3.2
| {{Composition bar|0|205|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|}
{{col-2}}
{{col-end}}
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}

'''Berlin'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2006'''
| 225,689
| 16.3
| {{Composition bar|23|141|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 10
|-
! '''2011'''
| 170,829
| 11.6
| {{Composition bar|20|152|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 3
|-
! '''2016'''
| 255,740
| 15.6
| {{Composition bar|27|160|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 7
|-
! '''2021'''
| 255,231
| 14.0
| {{Composition bar|26|160|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 1
|}
{{col-2}}

'''Brandenburg'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2009'''
| 377,084
| 27.2
| {{Composition bar|26|88|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 3
|-
! '''2014'''
| 183,172
| 18.6
| {{Composition bar|17|88|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 9
|-
! '''2019'''
| 135,572
| 10.7
| {{Composition bar|10|88|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 7
|}
{{col-2}}
{{col-end}}
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}

'''Bremen'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2007'''
| 23,282
| 8.4
| {{Composition bar|7|83|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 7
|-
! '''2011'''
| 73,769
| 5.6
| {{Composition bar|5|83|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 2
|-
! '''2015'''
| 115,385
| 9.5
| {{Composition bar|8|83|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 3
|-
! '''2019'''
| 166,378
| 11.3
| {{Composition bar|10|84|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 2
|}
{{col-2}}

'''Hamburg'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2008'''
| 50,173
| 6.4
| {{Composition bar|8|121|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 8
|-
! '''2011'''
| 220,428*
| 6.4
| {{Composition bar|8|121|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2015'''
| 300,567*
| 8.5
| {{Composition bar|11|121|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 3
|-
! '''2020'''
| 364,102*
| 9.1
| {{Composition bar|12|121|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 1
|-
| colspan=5 | <small>''*) five votes per voter''</small>
|}
{{col-2}}
{{col-end}}
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}

'''Hesse'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2008'''
| 140,769
| 5.1
| {{Composition bar|6|110|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 6
|-
! '''2009'''
| 139,074
| 5.4
| {{Composition bar|6|118|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2013'''
| 161,488
| 5.2
| {{Composition bar|6|110|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2018'''
| 181,263
| 6.3
| {{Composition bar|9|137|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 3
|}
{{col-2}}

'''Mecklenburg-Vorpommern'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2006'''
| 141,534
| 17.3
| {{Composition bar|13|71|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2011'''
| 125,528
| 18.4
| {{Composition bar|14|71|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 1
|-
! '''2016'''
| 106,259
| 13.2
| {{Composition bar|11|71|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 3
|-
! '''2021'''
| 90,865
| 9.9
| {{Composition bar|9|79|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 2
|}
{{col-2}}
{{col-end}}
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}

'''Lower Saxony'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2008'''
| 243,361
| 7.1
| {{Composition bar|11|152|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 11
|-
! '''2013'''
|110,525
| 3.1
| {{Composition bar|0|137|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 11
|-
! '''2017'''
| 177,118 
| 4.6
| {{Composition bar|0|137|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|}
{{col-2}}

'''North Rhine-Westphalia'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2005'''
| 254,977
| 3.1
| {{Composition bar|0|187|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2010'''
| 435,627
| 5.6
| {{Composition bar|11|181|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 11
|-
! '''2012'''
| 194,428
| 2.5
| {{Composition bar|0|237|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 11
|-
! '''2017'''
| 415,936
| 4.9
| {{Composition bar|0|199|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|}
{{col-2}}
{{col-end}}
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}

'''Rhineland-Palatinate'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2006'''
| 44,826
| 2.6
| {{Composition bar|0|101|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2011'''
| 56,054
| 3.0
| {{Composition bar|0|101|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2016'''
| 60,074
| 2.8
| {{Composition bar|0|138|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|-
! '''2021'''
| 48,210
| 2.5
| {{Composition bar|0|138|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|}
{{col-2}}

'''Saarland'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2009'''
| 113,660
| 21.5
| {{Composition bar|11|51|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 11
|-
! '''2012'''
| 77,612
| 16.1
| {{Composition bar|9|51|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 2
|-
! '''2017'''
| 68,566
| 12.9
| {{Composition bar|7|51|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 2
|-
! '''2022'''
| 11,689
| 2.6
| {{Composition bar|0|51|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 7
|}
{{col-2}}
{{col-end}}
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}

'''Saxony'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2009'''
| 370,359
| 20.6
| {{Composition bar|29|132|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 2
|-
! '''2014'''
| 309,568
| 18.9
| {{Composition bar|27|126|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 2
|-
! '''2019'''
| 224,411
| 10.4
| {{Composition bar|14|119|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 13
|}
{{col-2}}

'''Saxony-Anhalt'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2006'''
| 217,295
| 24.1
| {{Composition bar|26|97|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 1
|-
! '''2011'''
| 235,011
| 23.7
| {{Composition bar|29|105|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 3
|-
! '''2016'''
| 183,296
| 16.3
| {{Composition bar|16|87|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 13
|-
! '''2021'''
| 116,927
| 11.0
| {{Composition bar|12|97|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 4
|}
{{col-2}}
{{col-end}}
{{col-start}}
{{col-2}}

'''Schleswig-Holstein'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2009'''
| 95,764
| 6.0
| {{Composition bar|6|95|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 6
|-
! '''2012'''
| 29,900
| 2.2
| {{Composition bar|0|69|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 6
|-
! '''2017'''
| 55,833
| 3.8
| {{Composition bar|0|73|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{steady}} 0
|}
{{col-2}}

'''Thuringia'''
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:right;"
|-
! Election
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/−
|-
! '''2009'''
| 288,932
| 27.4
| {{Composition bar|27|88|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{decrease}} 1
|-
! '''2014'''
| 265,425
| 28.2
| {{Composition bar|28|91|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 1
|-
! '''2019'''
| 343,738
| 31.0
| {{Composition bar|29|90|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}}}
| {{increase}} 1
|}
{{col-2}}
{{col-end}}
{{hidden end}}

===Results timeline===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:80%; text-align:center"
|-
! Party
! Year
! {{flagicon|Germany}}<br />{{wipe|Germany}}
! {{flagicon|European Union}}<br />[[Social:European Union|EU]]
! class="unsortable"| 
! {{flagicon|Baden-Württemberg}}<br />BW !! {{flagicon|Bavaria}}<br />BY !! {{flagicon|Berlin}}<br />[[Place:Berlin|BE]] !! {{flagicon|Brandenburg}}<br />BB
! {{flagicon|Bremen}}<br />HB !! {{flagicon|Hamburg}}<br />[[Place:Hamburg|HH]] !! {{flagicon|Hesse}}<br />HE !! {{flagicon|Lower Saxony}}<br />NI !! {{flagicon|Mecklenburg-Vorpommern}}<br />MV !! {{flagicon|North Rhine-Westphalia}}<br />NW !! {{flagicon|Rhineland-Palatinate}}<br />RP !! {{flagicon|Saarland}}<br />SL !! {{flagicon|Saxony}}<br />SN !! {{flagicon|Saxony-Anhalt}}<br />ST !! {{flagicon|Schleswig-Holstein}}<br />SH !! {{flagicon|Thuringia}}<br />TH
|-
! rowspan=15| PDS
! 1990
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| 2.4
| rowspan=4| 
| rowspan=33 bgcolor=lightgrey| 
| rowspan=2| 
| rowspan=4| 
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| 9.2
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| 13.4
| 
| 
| 
| rowspan=4| 
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| 15.7
| rowspan=5| 
| 
| rowspan=4| 
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| 10.2
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| 12.0
| rowspan=2| 
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| 9.7
|-
! 1991
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=2 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 
|-
! 1992
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"|
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 
|-
! 1993
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 
|-
! 1994
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 4.4
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 4.7
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 18.7
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 22.7
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 16.5
| bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 19.9
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 16.6
|-
! 1995
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 14.6
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 2.4
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{efn|Tolerating an SPD–Green [[Social:Minority government|minority government]].}}
|-
! 1996
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 
|-
! 1997
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 0.7
|-
! 1998
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 5.1
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 0.2
| bgcolor=#E29FBF style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''24.4'''
| bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 19.6
|-
! 1999
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 5.8
| rowspan=2 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 17.7
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 23.3
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 2.9
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#E29FBF style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 0.8
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 22.2
| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{efn|Tolerating an SPD [[Social:Minority government|minority government]].}}
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 21.3
|-
! 2000
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 1.1
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 1.4
|-
! 2001
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| bgcolor=#E29FBF style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''22.6'''
| rowspan=3 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 0.4
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 0.0
|-
! 2002
| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 4.0
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E29FBF style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}
| bgcolor=#E29FBF style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 16.4
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 20.4
|-
! 2003
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 1.7
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 0.4
| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#E29FBF style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}
|-
! 2004
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 6.1
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''28.0'''
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| 
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 2.3
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''23.6'''
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 26.1
|-
! rowspan=2| [[Social:The Left (Germany)#PDS–WASG alliance|The Left.PDS]]<br />& WASG
! 2005
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 8.7
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 3.1
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 0.5
|-
! 2006
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| 3.1
| bgcolor=#E29FBF style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 13.4
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 16.8
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 2.7
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''24.1'''
|-
! rowspan=16| The Left
! 2007
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E29FBF style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 8.4
|-
! 2008
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| '''4.4'''
| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| 6.4
| rowspan=1 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| 5.1
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''7.1'''
|-
! 2009
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''11.9'''
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''7.5'''
| bgcolor=#E29FBF style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 27.2
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 5.4
| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''21.3'''
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 20.6
| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''6.0'''
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 27.4
|-
! 2010
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E29FBF style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}
| rowspan=2 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''5.6'''
|-
! 2011
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 2.8
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 11.6
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 5.6
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{steady}} 6.4
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 18.4
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''3.0'''
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 23.7
|-
! 2012
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 2.5
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 16.1
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 2.3
|-
! 2013
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 8.6
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 2.1
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 5.2
| rowspan=4 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 3.1
|-
! 2014
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 7.4
| bgcolor=#E29FBF style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 18.6
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 18.9
| bgcolor=#D66C9F style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 28.2
|-
! 2015
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E29FBF style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 9.5
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 8.5
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#D66C9F style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|Alliance 90/The Greens}}|border=silver}}
|-
! 2016
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 2.9
| bgcolor=#E29FBF style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 15.6
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 13.2
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 2.8
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 16.3
|-
! 2017
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 9.2
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E29FBF style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|Alliance 90/The Greens}}|border=silver}}
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 4.6
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 4.9
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 12.8
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 3.8
|-
! 2018
| rowspan=5 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 3.2
| rowspan=5 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''6.3'''
|-
! 2019
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 5.5
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 10.7
| bgcolor=#E29FBF style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''11.3'''
| rowspan=4 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 10.4
| bgcolor=#D66C9F style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} 31.0
|-
! 2020
| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#E29FBF style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|Alliance 90/The Greens}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}
| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''9.1'''
| rowspan=3 bgcolor=#D66C9F style="border-top-style:hidden"| {{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|Alliance 90/The Greens}}|border=silver}}
|-
! 2021
| rowspan=2 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 4.9
| rowspan=2 style="vertical-align:top"| {{increase}} '''3.6'''
| rowspan=2 bgcolor=#E29FBF style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 14.0<br />{{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|Alliance 90/The Greens}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}
| rowspan=2 bgcolor=#E29FBF style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 9.9<br />{{Colour box|{{party color|Social Democratic Party of Germany}}|border=silver}}{{Colour box|{{party color|The Left (Germany)}}|border=silver}}
| rowspan=2 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 2.5
| rowspan=2 bgcolor=#E8CAD8 style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 11.0
|-
! 2022
| style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 2.7
| style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 2.1
| style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 2.6
| style="vertical-align:top"| {{decrease}} 1.7
|-
! Party
! Year
! {{flagicon|Germany}}<br />{{wipe|Germany}}
! {{flagicon|European Union}}<br />[[Social:European Union|EU]]
! class="unsortable"| 
! {{flagicon|Baden-Württemberg}}<br />BW !! {{flagicon|Bavaria}}<br />BY !! {{flagicon|Berlin}}<br />[[Place:Berlin|BE]] !! {{flagicon|Brandenburg}}<br />BB
! {{flagicon|Bremen}}<br />HB !! {{flagicon|Hamburg}}<br />[[Place:Hamburg|HH]] !! {{flagicon|Hesse}}<br />HE !! {{flagicon|Lower Saxony}}<br />NI !! {{flagicon|Mecklenburg-Vorpommern}}<br />MV !! {{flagicon|North Rhine-Westphalia}}<br />NW !! {{flagicon|Rhineland-Palatinate}}<br />RP !! {{flagicon|Saarland}}<br />SL !! {{flagicon|Saxony}}<br />SN !! {{flagicon|Saxony-Anhalt}}<br />ST !! {{flagicon|Schleswig-Holstein}}<br />SH !! {{flagicon|Thuringia}}<br />TH
|-
| colspan=21 align=left| '''Bold''' indicates best result to date.<br />{{Colour box|#E4C2D3|border=silver}} Present in legislature (in opposition)<br />{{Colour box|#E29FBF|border=silver}} Junior coalition partner<br />{{Colour box|#D66C9F|border=silver}} Senior coalition partner
|}

==See also==
*List of political parties in Germany
*The Ministry for State Security (Stasi)
*Communist Party of Germany
*Merger of the KPD and SPD

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Literature==
*Dominic Heilig, [http://www.rosalux-nyc.org/mapping-the-european-left/ Mapping the European Left: Socialist Parties in the EU], Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, April 2016
*David F. Patton. ''Out of the East: From PDS to Left Party in Unified Germany'' (State University of New York Press; 2011)
*Hubertus Knabe, ''Honeckers Erben. Die Wahrheit über Die Linke''. Propyläen, Berlin 2009, {{ISBN|978-3-549-07329-2}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Elo|first1=Kimmo|year=2008|title=The Left Party and the Long-Term Developments of the German Party System|journal=German Politics and Society|volume=26 |issue=88 |pages=50–68|doi=10.3167/gps.2008.260303}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Hough|first1=Dan|last2=Koß|first2=Michael|year=2009 |title= Populism Personified or Reinvigorated Reformers? The German Left Party in 2009 and Beyond|journal=German Politics and Society|volume=27|issue=91|pages=76–91|doi=10.3167/gps.2009.270206}}

==External links==
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927210617/http://die-linke.de/fileadmin/download/international/programmatic_points.pdf|date=27 September 2007|title=Programmatic Points}}

*Ingar Solty, [http://www.rosalux.de/cms/fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/Themen/leftparties/pdfs/Solty-en-Nov17.pdf The New German Left Party] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227075529/http://www.rosalux.de/cms/fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/Themen/leftparties/pdfs/Solty-en-Nov17.pdf |date=27 February 2008 }}, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
*[http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=276626 Dan Hough, Michael Koss and Jonathan Olsen: The Left Party in Contemporary German Politics. London: Palgrave, 2007]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927223504/http://www.linksnet.de/artikel.php?id=3214 Ingar Solty: Transformation of the German Political System and European Historical Responsibility of the German Left Party, Das Argument 271, 3/2007, pp. 329–47] {{in lang|de}} 
*[http://badmatthew.blogspot.com/2007/04/victor-grossman-on-die-linke.html Victor Grossman: A Huge Step Towards Left Unity in Germany, Monthly Review Zine]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070827083024/http://www.monthlyreview.org/0507is.htm Ingo Schmidt: The Left Opposition in Germany. Why is the Left So Weak When So Many Look For Political Alternatives?, in Monthly Review, May 2007]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080405054200/http://www.socialistproject.ca/inthenews/die_linke.html A New European Socialist Movement? The Rise of the Left Party in Germany] by Ingar Solty and Frank Deppe, in Toronto, Canada, 18 March 2008
*[http://www.socialistproject.ca/leftstreamed/ls29.php Was the German Election a Turning Point?], Toronto, Canada, 13 November 2009


{{DEFAULTSORT:Left (Germany), The}}
[[Category:Left-wing populism]]

{{Sourceattribution|The Left (Germany)}}