Berlin's Left party demands Vanessa Emde give up her mandate

The state board of Berlin's Left party (Die Linke) on Friday evening called on Neukölln lawmaker Vanessa Emde to return her seat in the Berlin House of Representatives. State chairs Kerstin Wolter and Maximilian Schirmer said the party no longer trusts her and that she had repeatedly and knowingly disregarded joint decisions. A mandate, they said, is won collectively and brings responsibility.

The board cited a series of breaches of the mandate agreement that Emde, directly elected in North Neukölln, signed like all candidates. It requires lawmakers to follow the party and election programme. According to Tagesspiegel, she is accused of violating it in more than ten cases.

Emde had stalled coalition talks among the Left, Greens and SPD with statements that could be read as questioning Israel's right to exist. Representatives of the two prospective partners made her exclusion a condition for a coalition. The preliminary talks, since concluded successfully, were briefly interrupted because of her.

Whether she will give up the mandate is open, but party circles do not expect it. If she refuses, the parliamentary group leadership is expected to act on Tuesday and table a motion to expel her from the group. A week later, at least two thirds of the group would have to back it, which is considered likely to be exceeded clearly. Group leader Tobias Schulze has said there is no longer a shared basis for working with her. Some of her supporters see a party leadership yielding to a media campaign.