“You don’t run away” – CDU base attacks Schulze before Siegmund election

Before the election of the Prime Minister in Saxony-Anhalt, resistance to Prime Minister Sven Schulze is growing among the CDU base. CDU local politicians criticize his suggestion that members of the state parliament could leave the plenary hall if AfD leading candidate Ulrich Siegmund runs. This is reported by ZDF.

The Wernigerode CDU city councilor Matthias Winkelmann called on the group to remain united in the hall during the election and to answer journalists' questions. “Well, the icing on the cake is this state parliamentary group,” he told ZDF. One member after the other is leaving, and the member representative has also left the party.

The mayor of Bad Dürrenberg, Christoph Schulze, also criticized the proposal. After the election, he and his colleagues held numerous discussions with the party base. His conclusion: "I feel depressed. With a bit of anger. Lack of understanding." His conclusion: “It cannot stay as it is.”

And further: "It can't be the will of the people for MPs to stay away from elections. You can't run away," he said, referring to the proposal. In an open letter two weeks ago he also called for personnel consequences. The state CDU needs “young and fresh minds”. He described the firewall against the AfD as a “crashing failure”. He has not yet received a personal response. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

Group discusses the crisis

Sven Schulze admitted mistakes in a letter to party friends at the end of October: “We underestimated the mood in the country and the extent of discontent.” On Tuesday, the state parliamentary group discussed with him for two hours. It was then said that it had been a “reasonable meeting”. Schulze's inner party opponent Guido Heuer was missing.

The CDU suffered defeat in the state elections in September. Schulze continues to lead the government and has also taken over the parliamentary group chairmanship. Since the election of AfD politician Tobias Rausch as state parliament president on October 6th, there has been speculation as to whether CDU members also voted for him. Because of the secret vote, this cannot be determined.

On December 5th, the CDU will meet for the state party conference. Siegmund also wants to be elected Prime Minister in the state parliament in December.