GERMANY’S left-wing Die Linke party came under fire today for voting in favour of banning the German Communist Party (DKP) from standing in the country’s federal elections.

Earlier this month, Constanze Portner, the party’s representative on Germany’s Federal Electoral Committee, supported the move to block the DKP from September’s poll.

Only the Green Party voted against a proposal by Federal Returning Officer Georg Thiel to revoke the party’s status, a move DKP officials said was designed to crush the party financially.

A Die Linke statement said that allegations that its voting behaviour was anti-communist “are unjustified” and said it did not wish to comment further on the matter. It added that Ms Portner’s action “was neither decisive for the vote nor contains a political statement.”

The DKP plans to challenge the decision in court. THe party was told the decision was made as it failed to lodge the required administrative paperwork on time, a claim it dismisses.

And it insists that it will take part in the elections, calling on its supporters to take to the streets in support of the party.

“We will continue to take our slogans onto the streets, we will continue to fight against the burden of the crisis being passed onto the people, against the warmongering of Nato and the [German] federal government, and for peace with Russia and China,” DKP president Patrick Kobele said on Sunday.

He said that the ban does not just affect the DKP but is part of “the reactionary restructuring of the state” and bans on demonstrations, along with restrictions on the daily newspaper Junge Welt.

“To counter the attack … on the DKP means to intensify the resistance against the ruling class, to show solidarity and above all to strengthen the DKP,” Mr Kobele said.