Saxony-Anhalt: CDU federal parliamentary group vice-chairman criticizes Sven Schulze after the AfD election

After the election of the country's first AfD state parliament president in Saxony-Anhalt, CDU federal parliamentary group vice-president Sepp Müller accused Prime Minister Sven Schulze (CDU) of strategic errors. It was wrong that Schulze, as CDU parliamentary group leader in the state parliament, recommended his party colleagues to abstain from the election, said Müller on the MDR Aktuell program. Schulze did this even though colleagues had apparently already announced at the parliamentary group meeting that they would vote against Tobias Rausch.

Rausch was elected as the country's first AfD state parliament president on Tuesday at the inaugural session of the Magdeburg state parliament with 48 yes votes. The AfD and BSW together only have 44 seats in the state parliament. So Rausch must have received votes from at least one other faction. Because the election was secret, it is unclear from which ranks the additional votes came. Rausch himself said he was also assuming there would be votes from the CDU. A total of five abstentions in the election also suggest that less than half of the members of the CDU parliamentary group followed Schulze's recommendation.

From the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6th, the AfD emerged as the strongest force with around 44 percent of the vote, while the CDU experienced a debacle with 17.2 percent. After the election, Schulze ran for the CDU parliamentary group chairmanship in the state parliament and prevailed in a competitive vote. According to information from the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the first appeals are now being made from the ranks of the CDU parliamentary group for Schulze to resign as parliamentary group leader. He also still holds the office of state leader, but has announced his retirement. Federal parliamentary group vice-president Müller announces that he will apply for the state chairmanship of the party in Saxony-Anhalt in December.