The Left Brandenburg (German: Die Linke. Brandenburg) is the regional association of the party The Left in the state of Brandenburg. The regional chairmen are Katharina Slanina and Sebastian Walter, who is also the parliamentary group leader in the Landtag of Brandenburg.

History

Unification The Brandenburg regional association of the Left Party was formed as part of the nationwide merger of PDS and WASG in 2007. On 8 September of the same year, the regional associations of both parties united at the party conference in Brandenburg an der Havel.

The party was already represented in the state parliament before the 2009 state election through the previous PDS parliamentary group. At that time, it was in opposition to the red-black state government of Matthias Platzeck. After the state election that took place at the same time as the 2009 federal election, it formed a coalition in the state parliament from 2009 to 2019 as a junior partner together with the SPD Brandenburg and co-formed the state government. Since the 2019 state election, the state government has been formed by a Kenya coalition, so the party has been in opposition since then.

Sebastian Walter led the party into the 2024 Brandenburg state election, where it received under 3% of the vote and lost all representation in the Landtag of Brandenburg. However, in the 2025 federal election, the party would receive 10.7% of the vote in Brandenburg.

Divisions and mergers The state party is divided into 17 district associations, each of which corresponds to the districts and independent cities, with a joint district association in the independent city of Cottbus and in the Spree-Neiße district. (PDF; 120 kB). Bericht des Landesvorstandes auf der 1. Tagung des 4. Parteitages, retrieved 6 September 2020.

The highest decision-making body is the state party conference, which is elected for a two-year term. According to the statutes, it meets at least once a calendar year. It elects the state executive committee for a two-year term, which leads the party between state party conferences. The state executive committee consists of one or two chairmen, one or more deputies, a state manager and a state treasurer. The members of the extended executive committee are determined by the number of members of the executive board and may not exceed a total of 18 members. There is also a state committee as an organ of the state association with consultative, control and initiative functions vis-à-vis the state executive committee. The state committee consists of a total of 38 members, the majority of whom are sent from the district associations (30 places), the state-wide associations (4 places) and the state executive committee and the youth association (2 places each).

The Left Brandenburg has several intra-party associations. These can be freely formed by the members and are not official branches of the state party. The associations work independently on certain topics or, in the case of the Communist Platform, are a political movement. In 2014, the following state-wide associations exist:

LAG Antikapitalistische Linke LAG basis.linke LAG Company & Union LAG Movement Left LAG Network EL Specialist Working Group on Flight and Migration LAG Forum Demokratischer Sozialismus LAG History LAG Basic Income LAG Communist Platform LAG Local Politics LAG LEFT Women LAG LEFT Entrepreneurs LAG Queer LAG Red Reporters LAG School and Education LAG Self-determined Disability Policy LAG Seniors LAG SocialHealth LAG Environment LAG To promote a solidarity economy LAG Welcoming Culture

In addition, there is Left Youth Solid Brandenburg, a regional association of the recognized party-affiliated youth association of the Left with around 300 members.

Former party leaders (Until 2007 for the PDS/Left Party PDS) Term of officeName1990–1991Heinz Vietze1991–1993Lothar Bisky1993–1995Helmuth Markov1995–19991999–2001Anita Tack2001–2005Ralf Christoffers2005–2012Thomas Nord2012–20142014–2018Christian Görke2018–2020Diana Golze and 2020–2022Anja Mayer and Katharina SlaninaSince 2022Katharina Slanina and Sebastian Walter

Parliamentary Group (Until 2007 for the PDS-LL/PDS factions)

Former chairs of the parliamentary group Term of officeName1990–2004Lothar Bisky. Retrieved 6 September 2020.2004–2005Dagmar Enkelmann. Retrieved 6 September 2020.2005–2012Kerstin Kaiser2012–2014Christian Görke2014–20152015–2019Ralf Christoffers2019–2021 and Sebastian WalterSince 2021Sebastian Walter

Previous Vice Presidents of the State Parliament Term of officeName2004–2005Lothar Bisky2005–2009Gerlinde Stobrawa2009–2014

Members of the Landtag In the 7th Brandenburg State Parliament, the Left Party is represented by a total of 10 MPs, including 5 women and 5 men (since October 2021 with 6 women and 4 men).. Retrieved 6 September 2020.

Group Executive

Sebastian Walter, parliamentary group leader, spokesman for economic policy, energy policy, digitalisation and labour market , Deputy Group Leader, Spokesperson for Home Affairs, Legal Affairs and Justice Policy , Deputy Group Leader, Spokesperson for Local Politics, Migration and Integration Policy and Anti-Fascist Politics , Parliamentary Secretary, Spokesman for Environment, Agriculture, Climate Protection, Media Policy

Other parliamentary group members

Andreas Büttner, spokesman for social policy, inclusion policy, religious policy, consumer protection, transport policy, infrastructure and the BER , parliamentary group leader, spokesperson for education and sports policy, minority policy, children and youth policy , spokesperson for women, family, gender equality, senior citizens, European and development policy (since October 2021, replacing Christian Görke), spokesperson for structural change in Lusatia, rural development, regional planning and spatial planning , spokesman for budget and financial policy as well as health and care policy Isabelle Vandre, spokesperson for higher education, science and research policy and cultural policy, urban development, construction, housing and rent policy

Former parliamentary group members

Christian Görke (until October 2021, since then a member of the Bundestag), former spokesman for infrastructure, regional planning and spatial planning, urban development, construction and transport policy, European and development policy

Results of state elections

Results of the state elections YearVotesSeats199013.4%13199418.7%18199923.3%22200428.0%29200927.2%26201418.6%17201910.7%1020242.98%0

Literature

Roland Schirmer: Die Linke in Brandenburg. In: Jakob Lempp (Hrsg.): Parteien in Brandenburg. be.bra wissenschaft verlag, Berlin 2008, , pp. 125–150.

External links

Die Linke Brandenburg Fraktion Die Linke im Landtag Brandenburg

References