The CDU's top candidate for the upcoming state elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Daniel Peters, is distancing himself from CDU leader and Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Peters said on the news channel WELT TV: "We are now waging a fight for existence. And we have to make it clear in the next few days until September 20th that Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania needs the CDU." Peters tried to avoid associations with his party leader and the black-red coalition as a whole. "Friedrich Merz and federal politics - no federal politician is standing for election on September 20th! That's why we are campaigning for ourselves, for the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. This is about a state election and not about the election to the German Bundestag." There will be no more appearances by Merz in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania before the election.
“Federal policy is actually being absolutely criticized here in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,” Peters continued. But the coalition members in Berlin "apparently haven't yet understood what it's actually about": "They have repeatedly said themselves that they are the last patron in the gun of democracy. The last patron for sensible politics. And obviously the protagonists in Berlin don't seem to take that to heart."
On Thursday, Ulrich Siegmund linked the production of military equipment to the deportation offensive pursued by his party. He is now receiving criticism for this. “Ulrich Siegmund’s statements mark a new quality,” said the leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Pähle. “Anyone who brings military equipment into play in the announced mass expulsion of people from Saxony-Anhalt is talking about violence as a political tool.” The BSW also sharply criticized his statement. The AfD supports increased armament and “justifies the establishment of the Israeli arms company Elbit with the use of arms technology for ‘remigration’,” wrote co-federal chairman Fabio De Masi.
According to a survey by MDR, 14 of the 15 newly elected CDU MPs in Saxony-Anhalt have ruled out switching to the AfD. Several parliamentarians described such a move as a breach of trust with voters. “A change would be seriously damaging to the party, in short, vile,” said the parliamentary group’s previous environmental policy spokeswoman, Sandra Hietel-Heuer, on MDR.
According to the report, only CDU MP Lars-Jörn Zimmer did not answer the broadcaster's request, even after repeated requests. In 2019, Zimmer was co-author of a controversial “memorandum” within the party, which called for it to be “successful again to reconcile the social with the national”. In 2020, he also described a CDU minority government that would be tolerated by the AfD as “absolutely conceivable”. After criticism, he later called the formulation a mistake. The AfD is three seats short of the absolute majority. AfD top candidate Ulrich Siegmund had previously confirmed that talks were being held with politicians from other parties.
The deputy CDU parliamentary group leader Sepp Müller is putting pressure on the CDU leader after his conflict with Friedrich Merz. The Chancellor must now deliver on the reforms. In the future, the Union must “promise less and implement more,” demanded Müller – this also applies to “top staff”. Müller said on the news channel WELT TV: "We have lost credibility. We have lost trust. People no longer trust us because we could not implement the things we promised as quickly as possible. And because we did things differently, implemented things differently - key word: taking on debt - than what we said before the election, among other things."
The chairman of the CDU local branch in Großbeeren, Adrian Hepp, is calling on Chancellor Friedrich Merz to lead the Union more strongly after the election defeat in Saxony-Anhalt. “AfD bashing is going on, 24/7,” criticized Hepp in an interview with WELT TV. The CDU got lost in the election campaign in Saxony-Anhalt and neglected its own issues. CDU topics were no longer discussed. “This is exactly where I expect leadership now, where the Chancellor has to hit the table.”
Hepp and 32 other CDU members sent an incendiary letter to Merz. The local association has not yet received a response. He hopes so, said Hepp. “I would like to underline very clearly that we have been supporters of Mr. Merz from the beginning and we are therefore all the more disappointed with how the CDU is currently developing.”
Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) is promoting the government's reform policy in the Bundestag. The planned changes are “not an end in themselves,” she said in the debate about her house’s budget for the coming year. “It’s about us making this country better again.” She was once again critical of the planned abolition of the so-called “pension at 63”. She wants to say to people “who are currently afraid” that pensions for particularly long-term employees will be abolished: “There will be protection of trust, everyone can rely on that.”
In view of the planned talks between the AfD and BSW in Saxony-Anhalt, SPD parliamentary secretary Dirk Wiese has warned against the formation of a “Putin coalition” against German interests. “The emerging Putin coalition in Saxony-Anhalt is a hotbed of instability,” he told the “Rheinische Post”. Such cooperation primarily represents foreign interests, emphasized Wiese. Both AfD and BSW are calling for a rapprochement with Russia. With regard to newly elected AfD MPs, Wiese said: “The biographies of a number of MPs are more reminiscent of a meeting of veterans from the red light district.”
Ahead of the Berlin House of Representatives election on September 20th, a ZDF poll currently sees the Left in first place, just ahead of the CDU. The party with top candidate Elif Eralp comes in at 23 percent in the survey by the Elections Research Group, while the Christian Democrats with their top candidate Stefan Evers are two percentage points behind at 21 percent. The third strongest force would be the AfD with 17 percent, closely followed by the Greens with 16 percent. The Social Democrats are at 10 percent. However, the data was collected from Monday to Thursday - partly before the investigation against the SPD top candidate Steffen Krach became known on Wednesday. In the survey, the BSW is three percent below the five percent hurdle. The other parties (including the FDP) together have 10 percent, although each of them is below three percent.
In view of the election results in Saxony-Anhalt, the chairman of the supervisory board of the DAX giant Siemens Energy is warning of a change of course in the federal government's reform policy. “The biggest mistake our country could make now would be to withdraw reforms that have been recognized as correct because there is fear of doing poorly again in the next election,” Joe Kaeser told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ). "To question necessary reforms just because you have been punished in Saxony-Anhalt would be very problematic. Such a zigzag course would do even more damage to the credibility of the federal government," he continued.
According to the report, Kaeser is also clearly positioning itself against the AfD. “Just take the plan from the AfD election program to leave today’s EU and return to the D-Mark: that would be a catastrophe for Germany as an export country,” he told the newspaper. "If we were to reintroduce the D-Mark, investors would buy it on a large scale. Due to the high demand from abroad, the D-Mark would be worth more than other currencies. However, with a revalued D-Mark, our products for the international market would immediately become more expensive." According to Kaeser, this plan alone disqualifies the AfD from leading the third largest economy in the world, writes WAZ in advance.
The regional youth pastor of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany, Peter Herrfurth, believes in the effect of civil commitment, even after the AfD's election victory. “I am quite sure: civil society will not stand idle, but will intervene and protect people,” he told the Evangelical Press Service. Many people have already gotten involved. “It was clear beforehand that it doesn’t end on September 6th with the election of the state parliament.”
At the democracy festival of the alliance “Saxony-Anhalt. Open to the world!” On the Saturday before the election, Herrfurth, as a co-organizer, experienced in his own words how “empowering” it can be to celebrate democracy with more than 15,000 people. “We are the colorful face from Saxony-Anhalt that was sent into the world,” he said. Regarding the party itself, he said: “The AfD should have been banned long ago.” By being in the state parliament, she is strengthening herself. The AfD is normalizing the public communication of hatred. AfD voters would sometimes reject other people because of their gender identity or origin. "It usually doesn't help to argue, but rather to get to know each other. Then you realize: We are different, but we are human," said the Magdeburg pastor.
The news says that many AfD voters voted for the party for reasons of content, said the theologian: "But I say that many people are not even aware of the specific content of the election program and its consequences. Many are disappointed or angry at the decisions of the federal government." For example, voters hoped that the AfD would lower energy and gasoline prices. That has nothing to do with the election in Saxony-Anhalt, said Herrfurth.
