Sahra Wagenknecht is increasing pressure on the Thuringian regional chapter of her party, BSW, demanding that the coalition with the Union and the SPD in Erfurt be terminated. According to her statement to Stern, she insists that the issue cannot be solved merely through a decision made by a party board.
The call to end the coalition is also being echoed by the party’s members at the Thuringian grassroots level. Wagenknecht argues that participating in government has severely undermined the BSW’s credibility and amounted to a boon for the AfD’s leaders in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt. “We cannot continue in this manner,” she explained.
News reports indicate that a special regional party congress in Thuringia may be planned for the autumn, intended to elect a new regional leadership. However, efforts to change the leadership-led by Wagenknecht-previously failed in 2025, shortly before the current regional chairperson and Finance Minister, Katja Wolf, was challenged.
The BSW Federal Board reinforced this stance on Thursday. Through a circulated resolution, the federal body officially requested that the Thuringian BSW end its coalition partnership with the Union and the SPD, which is led by CDU Prime Minister Mario Voigt. “As the Federal Board, we have now made it clear what we expect from the Thuringian faction,” Wagenknecht stated. She asserted that the BSW should no longer support a coalition or a prime minister that has lost credibility with the majority of voters. She concluded: “We definitely will not support ‘firewall coalitions’ that do nothing for the voter and only make the AfD stronger.”
