Germany's The Left Party on Saturday elected Luigi Pantisano alongside incumbent Ines Schwerdtner to lead the far-left party.
At a party conference in Potsdam, Pantisano, a member of parliament, secured just over 53% despite running unopposed, a weak result. He had wanted to obtain a vote of more than 70%.
Pantisano, 46, succeeds Jan van Aken, who set his party an ambitious goal as he stepped down. The Left should become a "people's party" and win 20% of the vote in the next general election, he said.
Van Aken, 65, was not running again for health reasons. He had led the party with Schwerdtner since 2024 and played a major role in its return to parliament in 2025. The Left Party won 8.8% of the vote and is now polling at 10% to 12%.
Schwerdtner was confirmed in office with almost 86%, a strong showing. The party has been gaining ground and now has around 126,000 members. Of the more than 500 delegates, around half are new members who joined after 2023.
Pantisano, the son of Italian immigrants, said in his inaugural speech that he is out to make waves. He told party members: I am "also trying to polarize - you will get that with me."
The new party co-leader compared Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), in a video interview with the tabloid Bild.
"Ultimately there is no difference right now between the CDU, which is pursuing fascist policies, the AfD, or the fascists themselves."
When asked about that, Pantisano clarified and said the wording was unfortunate.
"That's an oversimplification," he told dpa. "The point is that parties like the CDU adopt the AfD's wrong-headed policies, which only makes the AfD stronger."
The Left's platform
In the coming weeks, the new party leadership wants to systematically mobilize protests against the government's social reforms and against higher defence spending.
On Friday, the party conference adopted a motion on the conflicts in the Middle East that, for the first time, adopts the term "genocide" for Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip.
It said: "International organizations, human rights organizations and numerous international law experts speak of a genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza. We share this assessment."
Israel itself adamantly rejects such an assessment. Germany's government also does not share it. Under the legal definition, the offence of genocide requires proof of a specific intent to destroy a protected group - in this case, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
A case brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice faces high hurdles for proving such specific intent.
The party conference resolution includes a commitment to Israel's right to exist and to combating anti-Semitism.
The Left Party's stance on the Middle East conflict is a sensitive internal dispute. The party repeatedly faces allegations of anti-Semitism. The wording of the 10-page motion was negotiated internally as a compromise. A more sharply worded counter-motion was rejected.
