Germany’s socialist has seen a record increase in registrations since the start of the year, with a new 23,473 members taking the total membership to 81,210.
“The Left Party is growing like never before,” said party co-chairman . “Over 81,000 people have signed up because they want a politics which stands up for affordable living and fair wages.”
According to the far-left party’s own figures, more than 23,000 new members have signed up since January 1, the vast majority of them (17,470) since January 29 — when the conservative controversially secured a majority for an anti-immigration motion with the support of votes from the far-right .
The move was seen as breaking a conventional in German politics whereby traditional, democratic parties refuse to cooperate with the extreme right. It has since seen hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in protests in various cities.
The average age of the Left Party’s new members is 28.7, over 52.7% of whom are female. That brings the average age of all party members down to 43.3 and the proportion of women up slightly to 42.3%.
“People are banging on our door to get in,” said van Aken. “That gives us a lot of strength for the election campaign.”
The latest polling ahead of the puts the Left Party on 6%, ahead of the rival left-wing populist on 5.5% and the neoliberal at just 4%.
With such a performance on February 23, the Left Party would overcome the minimum 5% hurdle required to enter into parliament.
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