The leader of Germany's Left party urged the Social Democrats (SPD) on Sunday to rethink their ban on a left-wing alliance as an opinion poll showed the three opposition parties could narrowly beat Chancellor Angela Merkel in the September 22 election.
Gregor Gysi, the Left's parliamentary leader, said in several high-profile interviews on Sunday that the SPD should stop ostracizing the Left party because of its Communist past.
"I don't see any reason that would prevent the Left party from becoming part of a government ruling in Germany one day," Gysi told Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which published a poll putting the SPD, their Greens allies and the Left party on 46 percent, a point ahead of Merkel's centre-right alliance.
"The SPD needs to understand that, without us, they're not going to win the chancellery," said Gysi, who indicated he had his eye on the foreign minister's job. The Left is polling about 8 percent after winning 11.9 percent in the 2009 election.
SPD support is 25 percent, 15 points behind Merkel's conservatives. The SPD's Greens allies are at 13 percent, ahead of Merkel's Free Democrat allies at 5 percent.
Peer Steinbrueck, the SPD's chancellor candidate, has ruled out a coalition with the Left party at the national level, as have most SPD and Greens leaders largely because it is the successor to Communist East Germany's SED party that built the Berlin Wall, and because the Left wants to abolish NATO.
Read more: Germany's Left urges new alliance to oust Merkel after poll boost - Yahoo! News
Gregor Gysi, the Left's parliamentary leader, said in several high-profile interviews on Sunday that the SPD should stop ostracizing the Left party because of its Communist past.
"I don't see any reason that would prevent the Left party from becoming part of a government ruling in Germany one day," Gysi told Bild am Sonntag newspaper, which published a poll putting the SPD, their Greens allies and the Left party on 46 percent, a point ahead of Merkel's centre-right alliance.
"The SPD needs to understand that, without us, they're not going to win the chancellery," said Gysi, who indicated he had his eye on the foreign minister's job. The Left is polling about 8 percent after winning 11.9 percent in the 2009 election.
SPD support is 25 percent, 15 points behind Merkel's conservatives. The SPD's Greens allies are at 13 percent, ahead of Merkel's Free Democrat allies at 5 percent.
Peer Steinbrueck, the SPD's chancellor candidate, has ruled out a coalition with the Left party at the national level, as have most SPD and Greens leaders largely because it is the successor to Communist East Germany's SED party that built the Berlin Wall, and because the Left wants to abolish NATO.
Read more: Germany's Left urges new alliance to oust Merkel after poll boost - Yahoo! News
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