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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Jon Henley Europe correspondent

German firebrand politician quits far-left Die Linke to set up her own party

Sahra Wagenknecht seated at her press conference with arms folded, wearing bright yellow zip-front collarless suit jacket and positioned in front of a blue wall
Sahra Wagenknecht announces the founding an alliance named after herself. Photograph: Erbil Basay/Anadolu/Getty Images

A leading German radical-left politician who has questioned the green transition and blamed the west for Russia’s war on Ukraine has left her party to set up a new one, in a move likely to cost the far right votes and further fragment the nation’s politics.

Sahra Wagenknecht, the charismatic former co-leader of the far-left Die Linke, said on Monday that the new association – named after herself – would court unhappy voters on the left and right, starting with next June’s European parliament elections.

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