Decline of the Linke Party?

 Around 2007, an East German political group (PDS) and a western German political group (WASG) combined to make what is the Linke Party today.  

Under this umbrella....Oskar Lafontain entered the picture (leaving the SPD Party) and helped to motivate people toward this new political group.

At this point, there were three political parties in Germany that were on the left-side of the political spectrum (SPD, Greens, and Linke).

What you can generally say is that the Linke found only one single German state where success was met (Thuringa, 2019 with 31-percent of the state vote).  There's four additional states (all in the east of Germany) where they've been able to get in the range of ten-percent.  Most all of the western states....they get in the range of 3-to-6 percent.

Lafontain came out a month ago saying he was retiring out of politics, and he sees the Linke Party as dying off.   He suggested voting SPD, if you wanted to make effective use of your vote.  

The problem here?

Both the Greens and SPD....have a pretty decent leftist agenda and generally accomplish it.  The Linke Party?  Their agenda tends to be as far extreme as you can imagine.....with this agenda never getting anywhere. 

The idea about free bus/rail tickets for working-class Germans (Linke idea)?  Well.....if you drill down into it....it's not free....someone is paying for it in the end.

Schlesweg-Holstein, North-Rhineland-Westphalia and Lower Saxony all have state elections later in 2022.  On general numbers expected Lafontaine's 'quit' speech?  The Linke folks weren't expected to get more than 5-percent in any of the three states.  

The quiet end of the Linke Party?  I would suggest that they will push on for 2022, and try to be of some significance.  The Thuringa state election in 2024?  That's probably the moment where they survive on, or admit defeat.  If they get less than 10-percent in their 'stronghold'.....they might start some mass re-organization.  

The decline here is that both the Greens and SPD sell a left-brand already....do you need a third left-brand in German politics?