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‘Die Linke needs to focus on its core topics, namely social justice and peace’
Jamshid Ahmadi talks to Left MP SEVIM DAGDELEN about the disastrous showing for the party in the German federal elections in September and what lessons can be drawn

THE results of the parliamentary elections in Germany in late September surprised many observers and political commentators. Were these results unexpected by the left forces in Germany, and by Die Linke in particular?

This drop is a brutal and bitter disappointment for the Left Party. Yet at the same time, the signs were there.

The neglect of social issues, social justice matters and a strong welfare state by the former party leadership over the past eight years lost us the trust of low- and average-income workers, the unemployed, and pensioners. We have to acknowledge the huge collapse in the social competence previously ascribed to us.

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