The political landscape in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern shifts as Die Linke confirms Deputy Prime Minister Simone Oldenburg and BSW selects Peter Schabbel to lead their respective campaigns for the 2026 state election.
Simone Oldenburg Confirmed
Die Linke delegates in Rostock elected the current Deputy Prime Minister with 88 percent of the vote to lead their state list.
BSW Enters the Race
The Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) nominated state chairman Peter Schabbel and adopted its first official election program in Greifswald.
Shifting Political Dynamics
Recent polling shows a rise for the SPD and a decline for the AfD, while Die Linke fights to maintain its coalition influence.
Simone Oldenburg, who serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, was elected as the top candidate for Die Linke in the upcoming 2026 state election, receiving 88 percent of the votes at the party congress in Rostock. The congress also finalized the party's Landesliste for the election. Separately, Peter Schabbel, the state chairman of BSW in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, was elected as his party's top candidate at a congress held in Greifswald. Both parties finalized their leading candidates on the same day, March 14, 2026.
Oldenburg secured her nomination with a strong mandate, winning 88 percent of delegate votes at the Rostock congress. Die Linke positioned the campaign around social justice themes, according to web search results citing the party's state leadership. Schabbel's selection at the BSW congress in Greifswald was accompanied by the adoption of the party's election program for the state vote. The two congresses taking place on the same day marked a significant step in both parties' preparations for the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Landtagswahl.
BSW was founded in January 2024 by Sahra Wagenknecht and other former Die Linke members. Oldenburg has served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern since 2021, and previously led the Die Linke parliamentary group in the state parliament from 2016 to 2021. BSW and Die Linke thus field candidates with contrasting institutional histories — one rooted in the state's governing coalition, the other a newly established national party now building its regional presence.
The 2026 state election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will see both Die Linke and BSW competing as distinct parties, despite sharing roots in the broader German left. Oldenburg's position as a sitting minister gives Die Linke a candidate with direct government experience to lead its campaign. Schabbel, as BSW's state chairman, leads a party that emerged only two years before the election. The simultaneous nomination events on March 14 underlined the competitive dynamic between the two parties as they seek to appeal to overlapping voter bases in the state.