7 months ago
Germany's The Left party has almost doubled in size this year with an influx of young people, residents of western states - and above all women.
The proportion of women in the party's carded ranks grew by more than four percentage points to 44.5% since 2024. Almost 60% of members are aged 35 or younger, according to internal statistics obtained by dpa.
The Left - the hard-left successor of the communist party that once ruled East Germany - currently has 115,623 members, compared with 58,532 at the end of 2024. It holds 64 of the 630 seats in parliament since the elections in February.
"The Left Party has doubled in size within a year, which is a tremendous success," said chairwoman Ines Schwerdtner, who noted the gains against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) among certain demographics.
"In terms of average membership, we are now the youngest party and the one with the highest proportion of women."
Since 2013, the Left has had around 60,000 members, with a deep dip in 2022 to around 54,200 and in 2023 to 50,200.
After the break with the wing led by Sahra Wagenknecht, who founded her own party, the numbers increased again - with a rapid boom since January.
Strongholds of growth include its western German branches from the far northern state of Schleswig-Holstein to Bavaria in the deep south, with membership more than doubling in each case.
In the east, where the party was traditionally more strongly rooted, the state associations grew less, but still by a third or more.
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