The Saxony-Anhalt CDU politician Alexander Räuscher recommends that his party elect Ulrich Siegmund (AfD) as Prime Minister. "The election results require that Mr. Siegmund become Prime Minister. The CDU should make his election possible," he told the "Tagesspiegel." In the state elections he missed re-entry into the state parliament, where he had previously sat for five years.
According to Räuscher, the CDU should vote for Siegmund in the election announced for December, “not because we are his fans, but because the electorate wants it.” The CDU politician added: "I would have a stomach ache to vote for Siegmund in the state parliament, but I would do it. We have to go through that now. I want to see how Mr. Siegmund has to make one election promise after another and disappoint his voters."
Räuscher does not attribute the four votes for the AfD state parliament president Tobias Rausch solely to CDU members. "In my opinion, they come partly from the CDU and partly from the left-green-red camp. They want to point the finger at us, the CDU."
According to research by MDR, the CDU parliamentary group in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt is threatened with a split. Several MPs confirmed to the broadcaster that some Union parliamentarians were considering leaving and forming their own parliamentary group. Former Education Minister Marco Tullner said: “I am at least thinking about the fact that this is an option.” Another MP, who wished to remain anonymous, said of the incumbent Prime Minister: “Sven Schulze has no authority in the CDU parliamentary group.” He sees the main responsibility as incumbent Prime Minister Sven Schulze, who was elected parliamentary group leader after the election with eight to seven votes.
During the election of the state parliament president on Tuesday, Schulze announced that the 15-member parliamentary group would abstain. However, AfD candidate Tobias Rausch received 48 yes votes with only five abstentions, AfD and BSW together have 44 seats. According to MDR, those CDU MPs who are critical of cooperation with the AfD are particularly concerned about leaving.
In the Saxony-Anhalt CDU parliamentary group there is contradiction to the demands of the former CDU MP Alexander Räuscher. Several politicians spoke to “t-online”, such as CDU MP Tobias Krull: “We definitely shouldn’t elect Siegmund as Prime Minister,” he says. “If Mr. Siegmund wants to be elected, he will have to seek his majority with others.” CDU MP Marco Tullner makes it clear: “We are the opposition and not an AfD auxiliary force.” CDU MP Chrisschulenburg is even clearer: “Any sincere democrat would have his hand rotten in the voting booth if he were to elect an AfD prime minister who belongs to a firmly right-wing extremist party.”
The SPD, Greens, Left and BSW met at the end of September for an initial exchange about a possible non-partisan prime minister. The discussions should continue after the constituent meeting. The CDU rejected the SPD's invitation because it sees itself in the opposition. However, her group's votes would have been necessary for a majority in the state parliament.
“After the election, we examined every democratic option and invited the CDU, Greens, Left and BSW to the table,” says SPD state chairwoman Juliane Kleemann. The BSW is now organizing majorities with the AfD. The CDU initially stayed away from the talks and now apparently cannot get its own group together to block right-wing extremists from reaching the highest state offices.
Chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz is critical of the election of AfD politician Tobias Rausch as state parliament president in Saxony-Anhalt. Because of the secret ballot, no one knows exactly who voted for Rausch, he said at an event hosted by “Handelsblatt” and “WirtschaftsWoche” in Berlin. Nevertheless, it is true that anyone who votes for the AfD is playing “the extremist game” and destroying credibility, says Merz: “In any case, that is not compatible with the values of my party, the CDU.”
Schleswig-Holstein's CDU chairman Daniel Günther sharply criticizes the election of an AfD politician as state parliament president in Saxony-Anhalt with votes from other factions. “The majority of members of the state parliament, which goes beyond the votes of the AfD and BSW, are responsible for a result that leaves us stunned and horrified,” writes Günther on his state chairman account on Facebook. “If anyone from the Union’s ranks was involved in this, he or she did not act according to the Union’s values.” Günther continues: "For us, without exception, there is no cooperation with right-wing extremists. Not in governments and not in parliament." Anyone who sticks to their word in the voting booth should be upright - especially when no one is looking. “In these times, the political center has a damned duty more than ever to solve the country’s problems together,” said the state chairman, who is Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein.
Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) has expressed concern about the election of an AfD politician as state parliament president in neighboring Saxony-Anhalt. “The fact that the office of the highest representative in the country in terms of protocol went to someone who comes from a party that is classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution must not become normal,” said Lies.
The Saxony-Anhalt state parliament president Tobias Rausch (AfD) assumes that he was also elected with votes from the CDU parliamentary group. He also told the “Nius” portal that it had been agreed that AfD prime minister candidate Ulrich Siegmund could also count on these four votes in the election in December.
The deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Wiebke Esdar takes Chancellor Friedrich Merz to task after the election of an AfD politician as state parliament president in Saxony-Anhalt. As chairman of the CDU, it is his responsibility to convince his colleagues that this election is “incompatible with the historical responsibility that we all have in a democracy, especially when we are elected to parliament,” Esdar said on Deutschlandfunk.
The SPD politician doesn't necessarily expect a word of power from Merz. “I believe that politics today works more with values and beliefs.” She too will not allow herself to be intimidated by power words in her political actions. But: “I expect that the Union will now finally recognize what historical responsibility we have to ensure that right-wing extremist parties are not helped to power again in Germany,” Esdar continued. A clear demarcation is needed.
The vice-chairwoman of the federal CDU, Family Minister Karin Prien, expressed concern after the election of an AfD state parliament president in Saxony-Anhalt. She doesn't yet have any confirmation that "it has been clarified in this secret election who voted and how, but I want to say clearly: If it was colleagues from the CDU state parliamentary group, then that is of course completely unacceptable. We have clear decisions on this. This also includes voting for AfD proposals."
