Overview
- Party leaders named Ruhnert as their nominee, with a vote planned at the early December congress in Magdeburg.
- The reorganization foresees Sahra Wagenknecht stepping down as chair to lead a basic-values commission and dropping her name from the party title.
- If elected, Ruhnert would replace Christian Leye, who is relinquishing the secretary role and running for deputy chair.
- BSW narrowly missed the 5% Bundestag threshold by about 10,000 votes and has requested a recount, which the election review committee has not yet decided.
- Ruhnert, 53, recently parted ways with 1. FC Union Berlin and casts his bid as focused on pragmatic, non-ideological solutions, while Wagenknecht praised the choice as a "Königstransfer."