Left leader quits

German Left Party politician Oskar Lafontaine, 66, announced at a press conference in Berlin on Saturday that he was giving up his parliamentary seat and his position as chairman of the party amid a battle with cancer.

The announcement followed weeks of speculation over the issue. In November 2009, Lafontaine underwent an operation for prostate cancer.

"I am a political person, and this decision was not easy for me to make," he said.

Lafontaine said he would officially step down after the Left party convention in May. He will also keep his position as the parliamentary group chairman in the state of Saarland.

His departure from the top post could further inflame the current power struggle within the Left Party.

Last week, the party's general secretary Dietmar Bartsch announced he would step down after being accused of disloyalty to Lafontaine.

Lafontaine said Bartsch’s stepping down played no role in his decision.

"He is irreplaceable."

Reacting to Lafontaine's announcement, current Left Party parliamentary group chairman Gregor Gysi said the Left Party in its current form would not exist without Lafontaine, and that he "was, is and remains an outstanding figure" in German and European politics.

"The party executive has no choice but to accept Oskar Lafontaine’s decision, even if it is extremely painful," Gysi said. "He is irreplaceable."

Both Gysi and Lafontaine declined to name possible replacements for Lafontaine's position.

Lafontaine's extraordinary political career began in the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which he led for a time.

He was SPD premier of the German state of Saarland, once ran unsuccessfully for chancellor, and was briefly German finance minister.

The Left party was formed in 2007 out of disgruntled SPD members from western Germany and former East German communists. At the last general election, the party won 12 percent of the vote.

acb/rb/dpa/AFP/AP
Editor: Kyle James