Berlin Left moves to expel Neukölln MP Vanessa Emde from parliamentary group

Faction board moves toward expulsion

The Berlin Left's parliamentary group leadership decided to start the process of excluding Vanessa Emde, the member for Neukölln, a spokesperson told dpa on Tuesday, 10 November. A motion is being drafted. The party accuses her of disputing Israel's right to exist, and that accusation sits at the core of the dispute. Emde signed a declaration against antisemitism together with all Left members at the constituent faction meeting in mid-October, but she later distanced herself from it in an Instagram video. She was recently elected to the state parliament, and she also took part in a rally on the edge of the Left's state party congress that was directed against the party leadership.

Refusal to give up the mandate

On Friday, 6 November, the Left's state board asked Emde to return her mandate, citing her refusal to work together with the party. She rejected the demand outright. In a written statement she argued that mandates won through democratic elections are not up for negotiation, and on Sunday, 8 November, she announced that she would keep exercising her mandate.

“Mandates won through democratic elections are not a subject for negotiation.”

“Of course I will continue to exercise my mandate!”

Hurdles to an expulsion

The statutes do not allow an immediate exclusion because required deadlines have to be observed first. Expelling her would require at least two-thirds of the group's members to vote for the motion, which is a high bar. The leadership had already said in mid-October that it had formed the group with a member who does not cooperate with the party. The sequence runs from that constituent meeting to the board's decision on 10 November, as shown below.