Luigi Pantisano elected Left co-chair – narrow result and criticism over CDU comparison

The focus of the second day of the congress was the election of the party leadership. Ines Schwerdtner, who already held the office of co-chair, was confirmed in her role on Saturday afternoon with nearly 86 percent of delegate votes. Her co-chair Jan van Aken did not run again for health reasons. In his farewell speech, van Aken said the party had what it takes to become a people's party: „Wir haben das Zeug zur Volkspartei, wir haben das Zeug für 20, für 25 Prozent."

Election with a narrow majority

Luigi Pantisano was the sole candidate to succeed van Aken. The 46-year-old comes from Baden-Württemberg, is the son of Italian guest workers, and was politicized in and around Stuttgart. He has only sat in the Bundestag since the current legislative period; before that, he ran as a candidate for mayor in Konstanz in 2020, where he forced the CDU candidate into a runoff. In his election as co-chair, according to consistent reports, he received only 53.34 percent of delegate votes – a result described within the party as „denkbar miserabel".

Before the congress, Pantisano had said in a conversation with Bild newspaper that there was „gerade gar keinen Unterschied zwischen der CDU, die faschistische Politik macht, der AfD oder den Faschisten selbst". He had also told ZDFheute that he expected at least 70 percent support. The actual result was significantly lower. On the sidelines of the congress, Pantisano acknowledged that „53 Prozent sei nicht das Ergebnis, das er sich gewünscht habe". It was now up to him to earn that trust and grow into his role over the coming months.

Criticism from the eastern German state associations

The criticism of the CDU comparison came mainly from the eastern German state associations. Eva von Angern, Die Linke's lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt, told Taz: „Mein Vertrauen in ihn ist erschüttert" – and said she had not voted for Pantisano. Hennis Herbst, the Linke state chairman in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, also expressed irritation. An influential party member told the Tagesspiegel that the accusation was „schlicht Dummheit" and that „historisch und aktuell ist das riesengroßer Unsinn, das sagt er jetzt ja auch selbst."

Eva von Angern at the same time stressed the distance from the AfD: „Es gibt einen ganz klaren Unterschied zwischen der AfD und der CDU. Das eine sind DemokratInnen und das andere sind die, die die Demokratie abbauen wollen." To the Tagesspiegel she added: „Mein antifaschistisches Licht ist, hier die Menschen vor einer AfD-Regierung oder ‑Beteiligung zu beschützen." On the congress stage, Pantisano declared that he did not want to lecture comrades from areas where „jeder Zweite ein Nazi" sei. In a written communication on Monday he apologized for his earlier remarks; these were „verkürzt und in dieser Form falsch".

Salary cap and social policy

Alongside the personnel debate, the congress decided by a large majority on a binding salary cap for Linke members of parliament. Diets will in future be capped at the level of average income; this currently corresponds to 5,300 euros gross per month, based on the public sector collective agreement. Amounts above that are to flow into social funds. Schwerdtner, who had been a key driver of this rule, said: „Es gehe um politische Glaubwürdigkeit." She herself kept an average wage from her MP's diet and passed the rest on to people in her directly won constituency of Lichtenberg. The resolution is to apply to the next Bundestag and European elections; for state parliamentarians, the state associations are to develop their own rules. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz subsequently accused Schwerdtner of pursuing cold politics.

In terms of content, on Sunday after a long debate the congress passed the lead motion „Die Linke als Steinhaus bauen", with which the party wants to anchor itself more firmly in society. Schwerdtner outlined the task as follows: „Wir kämpfen für jede Sozialarbeiterin in der Kommune, für jeden Sportplatz und für jedes Kind. Es macht sonst keiner." On economic policy, Die Linke demanded among other things the reintroduction of a wealth tax, which according to the party could generate additional annual revenues of over 108 billion euros; an inheritance tax, the party argued, could bring in significantly more.

Protest cascade and focus on eastern Germany

Linked to the resolution is a cascade of protests against the federal government's social policy: „Wir organisieren den Aufstand: gegen Sozialabbau und Militarisierung", reads the motion, which envisages a sequence from local actions through regional alliances to nationwide demonstrations. The ambition was also clearly formulated to prevail against the AfD in the upcoming eastern German state elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the autumn, and to win Berlin's Red City Hall with lead candidate Elif Eralp. Bundestag faction leader Heidi Reichinnek argued for deciding on a case-by-case basis whether Die Linke should participate in governments: „Das können wir in allen Rollen." Die Linke – as Pantisano confirmed in an ARD interview – does not rule out cooperation with the CDU at state level, for instance to prevent an AfD government in Saxony-Anhalt; the CDU itself, however, has adopted a resolution of incompatibility toward Die Linke.

Middle East debate and compromise paper

A further substantive focus was the Middle East conflict. On the first day of the congress, the Israeli-Palestinian activist Vered Berman and Knesset member Aida Touma-Soliman spoke as guest speakers. Vered Berman, granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and raised in West Jerusalem, described the fight against antisemitism as a „linke Pflicht" and said: „Wir haben den höchsten Preis gezahlt und uns trotzdem entschieden, nicht in der Logik von Rache und Entmenschlichung zu leben." Her mother was killed in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 2003; Berman works with an association of Palestinian and Israeli families who have lost relatives in the course of the conflict. Aida Touma-Soliman, an Arab Israeli and Hadash member of the Knesset, called for an arms embargo against Israel and described parts of the Israeli government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as right-wing extremists.

The congress passed by a clear majority a compromise motion on the Gaza war. It recognizes without qualification Israel's right to exist, names a two-state solution as the goal, and condemns Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide. The motion also states: „Die Sicherheit, Selbstbestimmung und Würde sowohl der Israelis, als auch die der Palästinenser*innen sind von gleicher Bedeutung." Schwerdtner had previously declared that red lines had to be drawn against every form of antisemitism: „Niemand dürfte Angst haben müssen, sein Kind auf eine jüdische Schule zu schicken oder auf der Straße eine Kippa zu tragen." Delegates also refused to elect a candidate who had attracted attention with harsh anti-Israel statements to the extended party executive.

Looking ahead, Die Linke announced that it would adopt a new fundamental program at a further federal party congress by autumn 2027 at the latest. After the departure of Sahra Wagenknecht and her followers and the founding of the BSW, the party had initially lost its parliamentary group status; at the snap Bundestag election in February 2025, Die Linke had then returned to parliament with 8.8 percent and six direct mandates. In the current ZDF Politbarometer, the party stands at 11 percent. Prominent figures such as Gregor Gysi and Bodo Ramelow were absent from the Potsdam congress. In the end, delegates sent Pantisano off with an honest but narrow vote – and the party prepared for an autumn election campaign in the east, in which it wants to position itself as a force against the AfD.

The federal party congress of Die Linke in Potsdam has thus set the course both in personnel and in programmatic terms: with Pantisano and Schwerdtner, a new leadership duo stands at the top that must wrestle internally for trust. At the same time, with