Germany's populist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is contesting the results of February's parliamentary election, the party confirmed on Wednesday, reported dpa.
The anti-immigrant BSW won 4.981% of the vote in the election, falling just short of the 5% required to secure seats in the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament.
If the party's challenge is successful, the move would have massive implications for German politics, as the incoming coalition – made up of Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats (CDU), the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU) and the centre-left Social Democratic Party – would no longer have a majority in the Bundestag.
The new administration is set to take office in early May after the parties approve their coalition agreement, but the BSW's challenge could upend their plans.
"The BSW demands – nothing more and nothing less – that every vote that was submitted for the BSW should count for the BSW. That is definitely not the case until now," party founder Sahra Wagenknecht told the Rheinische Post newspaper.
The party's co-leader Amira Mohamed Ali said that the party does not believe that it has been the victim of manipulation, but rather that "mistakes were made."
Just one year after emerging as a splinter group from The Left party, the BSW fell 9,529 votes short of reaching the 5% hurdle in February's election.
In its challenge, it claims that up to 32,000 votes for the party were either not counted, or were incorrectly assigned.
- Germany
- Poll result
- contest
- BSW
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
