Overview

• Sahra Wagenknecht, a former member of Germany's Left Party, has launched a new political party named 'Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance — Reason and Fairness' (BSW).
• The new party combines left-leaning economic policies with a restrictive approach to migration, and opposes current sanctions against Russia and German arms supplies to Ukraine.
• BSW is expected to contest in the European Parliament election in June and in three state elections in September in eastern regions where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is strong.
• The party's stance could potentially attract voters who might otherwise choose the nationalist, anti-migration AfD, particularly in the less prosperous, formerly communist east.
• The party's first congress is scheduled for January 27, and it plans to change its name before the next German national elections in autumn 2025.