Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) reacted to the election of AfD politician Tobias Rausch as President of the State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt - and indirectly condemned the possible involvement of CDU MPs in it. In a secret election, it is not clear who exactly helped the AfD gain a majority, said Merz at an event organized by Handelsblatt and Wirtschaftswoche. However, the election of an AfD state parliament president is not compatible with the CDU's values: "Anyone who gives their vote to the AfD destroys credibility," said Merz.
Rausch received 48 votes at the inaugural session of the Magdeburg state parliament. This meant that the AfD politician received four more votes than the AfD and BSW, who had previously spoken out in favor of his election, have seats. According to information from ZEIT, the four additional MPs who voted for Rausch are said to be members of the CDU parliamentary group. According to information from AfD circles, there was a corresponding agreement between the two parties.
Before the election, the CDU parliamentary group leadership recommended that its members abstain. However, there were only five abstentions, while 14 CDU MPs took part in the meeting. Several of them had previously announced that they would vote against Rausch. It is also unclear how AfD MP Hans-Thomas Tillschneider was elected vice president: he received 44 votes. The parliamentary group leaders of the CDU and BSW asserted that their MPs had not voted for Tillschneider, who was considered particularly radical. However, the AfD alone only has 39 seats.
Anyone who votes for the AfD is playing “the game of extremists,” complained Merz. It must be clarified on site "how and whether the investigation of this secret election will ever be successful." The Chancellor went on to say: "But at the same time, at least for me: Anyone who elects a member of a right-wing extremist party as President of the State Parliament must reconcile this with their conscience."
The fact that AfD and BSW "as authoritarian and extremist parties" together received the majority of state parliament mandates was a "historic turning point," said Merz. Unlike the AfD, the BSW is not classified as extremist in any federal state. Nevertheless, Merz also extended his criticism to parties beyond the AfD: Germany is “designed to share power and force compromises,” but there are forces “that want to override this DNA of our democracy, our system. Extremism is penetrating our parliaments with force.”
At the event, the Chancellor looked not only at Magdeburg, but also at Berlin. He warned the local SPD and the Greens against entering into a coalition with the Left Party, which emerged as the strongest force in the House of Representatives election in September. The "political center" called on Merz to "live up to its responsibility, with the majority that exists, to prevent a ruling mayor of the left in our capital." Merz was referring to the calculated majority of the CDU, which came second in Berlin, with the SPD and the Greens.
The Chancellor said he was "very serious" about his warning about a red-green-red government alliance in Berlin: "I can't imagine it." He justified this with the ongoing discussion about anti-Semitism in the ranks of the Left Party as well as the way the party leadership deals with members who are accused of anti-Semitism - especially in the context of the Left's position on Israel and the war in the Gaza Strip. "We are committed to Israel's right to exist, and that is unshakable - we are resisting growing anti-Semitism in Germany," said Merz.
With a view to the attack by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, which is celebrating its third anniversary this Wednesday, Merz said: "On this day in particular, these non-negotiable principles of our community should be negotiated in all seriousness, should parts of them be made available for a government alliance in the middle of our capital?"
