New leadership team: Anja Eichhorn and Marco Böhme lead the Left in Saxony!

New leadership team: Anja Eichhorn and Marco Böhme lead the Left in Saxony!

Last Saturday there was really something going on in Leipzig again, because the Saxon Left elected a new board. Anja Eichhorn and Marco Böhme are now heading the party as a newly minted duo. They prevailed against their competitors Marika Tändler-Walenta and Silvio Lang at the party conference in front of over 200 delegates. The results were impressive: Eichhorn received 70.5% of the vote, while Böhme received 63.7%. A strong sign for the two new chairmen, who want to start their term in office with fresh enthusiasm. Schaper and Hartmann, the previous chairmen, have given up the reins after six years in order to concentrate more on their tasks in the state parliamentary group, as Blick reports.

What makes the two new leaders special? Anja Eichhorn, 39 years old, comes from the Zwickau district and was previously deputy chairwoman. Marco Böhme, on the other hand, 35, has his roots in Leipzig and has already sat in the Saxon state parliament for ten years. Both appeared as a well-rehearsed team and are determined to continue to position the Left strongly in Saxony. During her application speech, Eichhorn in particular highlighted the challenges of the past few years under which her predecessors have grown, such as the corona pandemic and the geopolitical developments surrounding the Ukraine war.

Membership development of the left

The Saxon left can look forward to strong growth. The party currently has around 11,000 members, making it the party with the largest number of members in Saxony - ahead of the CDU with around 9,500 members. In the last six years the number of members has more than doubled. This positive development was also picked up by Tag24, where it is mentioned that 46% of the members are female and the average age is 44 years.

But the Left has not only gained members; it has also lost influence in parliaments. In particular, votes were lost to Sahra Wagenknecht's newly founded alliance. Nevertheless, the Left is optimistic and sees a growth spurt, which is also reflected in the dynamics of citizens' political engagement. This is confirmed by the latest developments that Sächsische.de has documented. After the end of the traffic light coalition in Berlin, more and more people are becoming politically active and joining various parties.

Start a new chapter

These changes have not gone entirely unnoticed, and the left must now work to regain its influence. The beginning has been made and the new chairmen are motivated to tackle the challenges. The end of an era and the beginning of a new one were celebrated with great enthusiasm with a humorous handover ceremony in which Schaper and Hartmann presented green lightsabers to the two new chairmen. It remains exciting to see how the newly elected chairmen will lead the party into the future.