Merz issues business SOS in letter to allies – DW – 01/06/2026

Brandenburg state premier Dietmar Woidke has declared void his Social Democrats’ (SPD) coalition government with the populist left-wing fringe party the BSW. 

With that, the only state government in Germany pairing the center left SPD with the socialist splinter party known in German as the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance has disintegrated. 

Several BSW politicians leaving the party, complaining of extremist tendencies within its ranks, put the coalition’s razor-thin majority into question. 

As a result of this, Woidke had issued repeated appeals to the remaining BSW politicians to declare their support for the coalition. With these guarantees not forthcoming, and more resignations rendering the coalition a minority force in state parliament anyway, Woidke declared the alliance history late on Tuesday morning. 

“With this collapse of the [BSW] faction, the basis for cooperation in a coalition, the basis for working with a democratic majority is no longer available,” Woidke said. “Therefore, for me the basis of the coalition agreement is also expired.” 

Woidke said that on a de facto basis in the immediate term, his SPD would lead a minority government. He said he would seek talks with the center-right CDU about a potential alliance. 

Brandenburg last voted in state elections in late 2024. This was at more or less the height of popularity for the BSW, a splinter group formed by former socialist Left Party high-flyer Sandra Wagenknecht.

It sought to combine left-leaning policies on economic issues and criticism of support for Ukraine and a friendly line towards Russia with a tougher stance on migration. 

Particularly popular in the former East, the BSW claimed 13.5% of the vote in Brandenburg in September 2024, but it narrowly failed to clear the 5% hurdle required to guarantee representation in the Bundestag in 2025’s national vote.

A mini-resurgence for the Left Party that Wagenknecht had abandoned helped explain the BSW declining almost as swiftly as it had risen.

Should Woidke and other parties in Brandenburg fail to broker a new working coalition, early state elections could be a possibility. The state is a stronghold for the AfD, which at 29.2% support came very close to eclipsing the SPD, on 30.9%, as the state’s largest party in 2024.