Constanza: Luigi Pantisano, left, could become mayor

The Luigi Pantisano application movie takes five minutes. You can find out a lot about the man who wants to come to power in Constance.

That he once worked as a district manager in the city of Lake Constance. Who previously studied in Tokyo. That he was a scientist at the University of Stuttgart and that he is currently a member of the municipal council of the state capital, for an alliance that bears the name “SÖS”: Social Ecological Stuttgart.

However, Pantisano does not mention a not entirely insignificant detail in the June video: that he is a member of the left, and has been spending much of his working time in the constituency office of left-wing party leader Bernd Riexinger. since 2017.

For the first time in its history, the West German left was able to appoint a mayor. There is a second round in Constance on Sunday. In the first vote on September 27, Pantisano ranked first with 38.3 percent, just ahead of incumbent Uli Burchardt.

A triumph of the left in Baden-Württemberg of all places? In the conservative southwest, the comrades remain a split party across the country, with three seats alongside the FDP, they represent the smallest parliamentary group on the Konstanz municipal council. Instead, the Greens set the tone as clearly the strongest force. Burchardt’s CDU follows behind.

Shining green

But Pantisano has a recipe for success: he talks as little as possible about his own party. There is little to see of the red on the left on election posters and flyers. Everything is kept bright green. On their website, you have to look around for a brief reference to Pantisano’s left-wing membership.

On the other hand, there is a prominent message: “I am running as an independent and non-partisan candidate for your vote in the mayoral elections of Constanza.”

Independently? Not partisan?

“I am a member of the left, but I defend a broad alliance and of course I feel obligated to this alliance,” says Pantisano.

In general, he claims, party membership hardly plays a role in the candidates for mayor of Baden-Württemberg. Not really? In the land of the green star mayors Boris Palmer (Tübingen) and Fritz Kuhn (Stuttgart)?

Rather, you probably shouldn’t play a role in this particular election campaign, your election campaign.

After all, the left has an image problem. On the Bund they also represent ideological struggles and debates, some comrades ensnare the autocrats and it is far from deciding how green the left really wants to be.

Pantisano, for his part, made climate protection the theme of his election campaign. Ask for a car-free downtown area, free local transportation, and a climate-neutral building.

It’s a smart strategy: the 41-year-old talks to the great green environment of the city. Environmental issues have long dominated debates in Constance. Last year the city symbolically declared a “climate emergency.”

Distance to the party

Pantisano, on the other hand, does not have to pretend in his role. He was once a member of the Greens.

Even the distance to the party itself is not an accident. Even after joining the left, Pantisano remains a candidate for SÖS on the Stuttgart city council. Breaking with the alliance it has belonged to for many years is out of the question, he says.

Now it is not uncommon for mayoral candidates to seek a nonpartisan appearance. Pantisano’s competitor, Burchardt, does the same. But the incumbent’s CDU membership is not really a secret: for example, he is also the leader of his parliamentary group on the district council.

Pantisano, on the other hand, borders on the Left Party as much as it can. Therefore, his opponents attack him more and more severely.

“Classic left activist”

In mid-September, the CDU of Constanza wrote on its Facebook page: “Luigi Pantisano is not the candidate of the political center, but a classic left activist.” The result was a veritable storm of outrage.

“I think what Mr. Pantisano is doing is not very transparent,” says Fabio Crivellari, director of the CDU city association. “Until recently, a lot of people in the city didn’t even know he was on the left.”

Pantisano denies it. He never hid his left membership. He is simply not a party candidate.

However, the federal left is doing everything it can to avoid getting in Pantisano’s way. After the first vote, there was a clear announcement in the Bundestag faction that comrades should refrain from making public comments on the elections at Lake Constance, MPs report.

The concern: a chorus of cheering comrades could disrupt Pantisano’s campaign story.

Party leader Bernd Riexinger emphasizes that Pantisano is on leave without pay for his election campaign. He doesn’t meddle.

Pantisano has only one chance as a non-partisan candidate, that is known by the main comrades in Berlin. They also know that an electoral victory would still be a sign. Another step on the road to normality for the Federal Republic of Germany, after the West German government’s first participation in Bremen. “You can see that the left does not conjure up such strong defensive reflexes today,” says Riexinger.

But there’s more than that. Pantisano’s success seems a confirmation of all those in the party who insist on being more anchored in the movements and see ecology as an important issue for the party. Above all: Riexinger.

Model for the federal government?

The party leader claims to have reorganized the left. In fact, regional associations tend to grow in the west, while the left in the east contracts. Today, comrades specifically target the youth, not with Ostalgie, not with assembly line folklore or criticism of immigration, but with anti-racism, feminism, and climate protection.

Some in the party believe that the left is giving up its regular electorate and making itself superfluous in the long run. Others, like Riexinger, are sure that this is the only way the party can exert long-term influence. The likely new leader of the party, Janine Wissler, thinks so too.

Pantisano’s success shows that this calculation can work, at least in the right circumstances and in the right place. If he could not convincingly convey that climate protection and movement are important to him, Pantisano would not be willing to move to city hall.

In fact, Pantisano is backed by a broad alliance. Greens, leftists, local lists and initially the SPD, which later put forward its own candidate, had joined together to attack the CDU. The current alliance emerged later from these rounds, and Pantisano as a candidate.

Green Samuel Hofer says there is no problem with a leftist running for the Greens “as long as he is the best candidate.” And that is Pantisano: “He has experience in local politics, he knows the city, he is an urban planner, he has a history of migration, he is interested in the environment, he is well connected. Jokingly, if he were a woman, he would be perfect for us.”