By Thomas Escritt

BERLIN (Reuters) – A shadow is looming over Germany’s election: the spectre of the far-left Linke party, heir to the communists who once ruled East Germany, coming in from the political wilderness.

Angela Merkel’s conservatives would like voters to believe that. Just days before Sunday’s vote, she was behind in polls. Her potential successor warns that Social Democrats would allow the far-left to take power if they are victorious.

“You must have a clear view on extremists,” Armin Laschet, the conservative candidate, told Olaf Scholz in a live televised debate this month. I don’t get why you find it so difficult to declare, “I will not enter into a coalition or alliance with this party.”

Linke is just as unacceptable to conservatives as Alternative for Germany, who all major parties have made a pledge not to enter government.

Scholz made clear that the Greens were his preferred partner, however the conservatives claim he will require a third party in order to form a coalition government. They claim that the Social Democrats have a closer relationship with the Linke regarding social policy than the Free Democrats, who are the preferred partner for conservative dance moves.

It is not likely that this will happen. The Linke have just 6% of polls. This compares to the 11% liberals. Scholz probably wouldn’t be able to get the necessary parliamentary majority.

For some investors it’s a serious risk.

Sassan Gahramani is chief executive at SGH Macro Advisors in the U.S., which provides advice to hedge funds.

The Linke’s policies, such as the rent cap and property tax for millionaires, would cause panic in Germany’s business elite.

Many assume that Scholz, a strident finance minister who was also a former mayor in Hamburg, would win and include the Free Democrats to help moderate his coalition.

The SPD and Greens also said no to working with parties that refuse to join the NATO military alliance, or Germany’s membership in the European Union. Both of these are issues Linke raised.

DARE YOU BE READY FOR GOVERNMENT?

The leftists, three decades after East Germany disappeared from the world map, are not flinching and claiming they’re ready to take on government responsibility.

Party co-leader Dietmar Barktsch said, “We are already in NATO,” while avoiding questions about whether the party’s foreign policy views might prevent it from becoming a government.

Bartsch is 63 years old and his political career began in 1977 when he joined East Germany’s Socialist Unity Party. He leads the Linke with Janine Wissler (40), who hails form a small town outside Frankfurt.

The party is more interested in economics than foreign policy. This party isn’t far from Social Democrats, Greens or the Social Democrats. Bartsch states that once the party becomes government it will ensure its partners fulfill campaign promises like the SPD’s suggested minimum wage of 12 euros an hour.

This party is now stronger in West Germany’s poorer post-industrial areas than its East German roots.

The party is the senior partner of the SPD and Greens, as well as the head of the Thuringia’s government.

According to analysts, Scholz, a centrist would prefer to be with the Free Democrats. However, the Linke will still have leverage over liberals and want to continue playing kingmakers during coalition negotiations.

Social Democrats are leading in polls suggesting that the left’s communist roots have less importance than ever. Annalena Bärbock, Greens leader, said that it is wrong to claim they are as bad as far-right as these latter didn’t respect Germany’s democratic norms.

Baerbock stated this in a TV debate, “I find this combination of the AfD and the Left extremely dangerous,” she said.