The head of the Left Party gave political and private reasons for his decision. Need a fresh start. She also criticized “dealing with sexism in its own ranks”.
Left German leader Susanne Hennig-Wellsow announced her resignation on Wednesday. In a statement posted on the Internet, Hennig-Wellsow gave three reasons for his resignation: his “private life situation”, “dealing with sexism in his own ranks” and the urgent renewal of the party, for which “new faces” are needed. She is resigning “with immediate effect,” she wrote.
“We deliver very little of what we promise,” explained Hennig-Wellsow. “There was no real new beginning. An apology is due, an apology to our constituents whose hopes and expectations we have disappointed.”
“Because of My Own Weakness”
Hennig-Wellsow drew a devastating conclusion about the current state of the Left Party: “Due to our own weaknesses, we have not been able to fulfill the promise to be part of future political change,” she wrote. “Very few people believed that we were willing and able to actively change this country for the better.”
Left politics also expressed self-criticism in its statement: it failed to achieve its goal of initiating a renewal of the left. “I know the avoidable mistakes I’ve made,” she wrote. “I also know that I haven’t been able to convince enough of those who associate renewal mainly with the fear of losing the familiar, the certainties.”
Referring to his “private life situation”, Hennig-Wellsow wrote that he had an eight-year-old son “who needs me, who has the right to spend time with me”.
Dealing with Sexism: “Egregious Deficits”
She also wrote that the party’s necessary renewal “needs new faces to be believable: the left deserves to be led by people who give courage to our supporters and members again”.
She also criticized the fact that “dealing with sexism in our own ranks has revealed glaring deficits in our party”. “I apologize to those affected and support all the efforts that are now needed to make the left a party in which sexism has no place.”
(APA/AFP)