The party is now consulting legal experts on possible next steps. “We will now thoroughly review the matter legally,” Mohamed Ali confirmed.
Meanwhile, Wagenknecht remained vague about her future as party leader. “This will be discussed within our leadership bodies, and we will announce a decision in due course,” she said, refusing to rule out stepping down.
The result is a major blow for Wagenknecht, who turned her back on the far-left party The Left in 2023 to form her own party. While BSW struggled, The Left performed better than expected in the Sunday vote. The Left leader Jan van Aken dismissed BSW as a passing phenomenon, comparing it to the short-lived Pirate Party. “We won’t even remember it in two or three years,” he said.
The contrast between the two parties highlights the difficulty Wagenknecht faced in carving out a distinctive political space. Many voters who had considered BSW ultimately stayed with The Left. Van Aken suggested that some disillusioned BSW supporters could return: “We haven’t thought about that yet, but we’ll see.”
Despite the setback, BSW intends to continue. “This will not mark the end of our project,” Wagenknecht said.
