Dealing with AfD: Günther criticizes election of AfD state parliament president

Schleswig-Holstein's CDU chairman Daniel Günther has sharply criticized the election of an AfD politician as state parliament president in Saxony-Anhalt with voices 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,” wrote Günther on his state chairman account on Facebook. “If someone from the Union’s ranks was involved, he or she did not act according to the Union’s values.”

Appeal to the political center

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.

The centrist parties should not form majorities anywhere with extremists, not with right-wing extremist misanthropes, not with left-wing extremist anti-Semites. “In Germany we have seen how democracies end. Rarely with a loud bang - mostly in small steps, with extremists taking over more and more power. This must not happen again.”

AfD state parliament president Rausch with more votes than expected

On Tuesday, AfD MP Tobias Rausch was elected President of the State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt. He not only received the votes of the AfD and BWS MPs as announced, but also four additional votes. It is unclear who they came from - the MPs voted individually and secretly in a voting booth.