[ad_1]
After left-wing leader Kipping, his co-chairman Riexinger also announced that he will not run for the top job again in October. This clears the way for a new top left.
Following left-wing leader Katja Kipping, her co-chair Bernd Riexinger has also announced that she will not run for the top job again in October. The 64-year-old announced it on Saturday in a written statement to the federal executive board and other party organs, which is available to various media.
Riexinger, who belongs to the left wing of the party, wrote in his five-page statement: “I was very happy to do the job as party chairman and I am proud that we have built and developed Die Linke into a fully German party that is now a stable force in the German federal party system. ” He will continue “to work with enthusiasm and optimism for a strong left.”
Riexinger has also been a member of the Bundestag since 2017, as has Kipping, who has been a member of parliament since 2005.
Kipping retired first
Kipping had already announced in a letter to party committees on Friday that he would no longer run. It was “time to start something new,” the 42-year-old wrote.
Kipping justified his withdrawal by respecting the party’s statutes. According to this, no party position should be held by the same member for more than eight years.
Unclear succession
The dual leadership of Kipping and Riexinger was elected a good eight years ago in a wrestling vote. With the withdrawal of the two presidents, the left now faces a change in personnel at the party congress in Erfurt from October 30 to November 1. A new party executive should be elected in June. The party conference was postponed due to the corona pandemic.
It is not yet clear who could succeed Kipping and Riexinger. The leader of the Hessian parliamentary group, Janine Wissler, and the leader of the Thuringia parliamentary group, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, are being discussed as possible candidates for the party presidency.
