What is the future of die Linke?
Will they dissapear in the long term? Will 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017 be exception in the history of german politics? Will they fail to have seats in the next election?
Or will they recover? Will 2021 be just a bad year for die Linke like 2013 was for the FDP?
This was a tough election for Linke because there are only so many votes on the left, and both SPD and Grune were riding high going into the election (Grune earlier, SPD closer to election day), which meant there was a lot of pressure on left-wing voters to choose them rather than Linke. I feel like a traffic-light coalition, which seems by far the likeliest result, is exactly what Linke needs to experience a revival. After all, SPD and Grune will be implementing at most center-left, but realistically centrist, economic policies with the FDP involved, and that means a wide opening for Linke to be a pressure party on the left and a home for leftists who have recently abandoned it for the SPD and Grune. It also may be the case that, without the CDU in government, the relevance of the AFD declines, which might mean some swing-back of former Linke voters in the East from the AFD, though that feels more speculative and theoretical.
Long-term, though, Linke will still have an uncertain future beyond the next election if it's viewed as not a viable potential government participant.
