Katja Hoyer Katja Hoyer

Could a left-wing coalition end up running Germany?

Janine Wissler, co-leader of the the left-wing party, Die Linke (photo: Getty)

A spectre is haunting Germany — the spectre of the left. As Merkel’s Christian Democrats fall further behind in the closing weeks of the federal elections, there is now a real possibility of a left-wing coalition forming that might include the far-left party Die Linke.

‘They will never commit to Nato,’ barked Armin Laschet, leader of Merkel’s CDU and her would-be successor in a televised debate with his rivals last Sunday. He demanded to know if Olaf Scholz, chancellor candidate for the social democratic SPD, and the Greens’ Annalena Baerbock would rule out a coalition with Die Linke. Neither did.

To Armin Laschet and many in his conservative camp, the prospect of a far-left party as part of a German government is so abhorrent that they assume it would put the fear of God in their voters too. Laschet therefore used up much of his air time demonstrating that his competitors would consider working with a party that is not committed to military security, advocates mass immigration and wants to limit the role of the domestic intelligence agency.

Some of Die Linke’s mission statements read like something from a bygone era

But how likely is it that the SPD and the Greens will actually work with Die Linke to form a far-left-of-centre coalition? On paper, it seems doable. Most polls now put the SPD ahead of Laschet’s CDU by some margin (23 per cent and 22 per cent respectively). If this stands, Olaf Scholz would get the first go at forming a majority. So he could exclude Laschet’s party and instead invite the Greens (currently at 18 per cent) and Die Linke (currently at 7 per cent). At the moment, this would still leave them short of the required 50 per cent but the trajectory of the polls is in their favour. 

In practice however it would prove difficult for any of the mainstream parties to co-operate with Die Linke if the latter insist even on some of their core policies.

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