Holger Stahlknecht urges former CDU colleague Sven Schulze to consider resigning after election defeat

Holger Stahlknecht, a former leader of Saxony-Anhalt’s CDU and the state’s former interior minister, has urged Minister-President Sven Schulze to consider resigning after the CDU’s election defeat. Stahlknecht described the result as historically poor and said the leading candidate had to face personal consequences after such a loss.

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Whoever is the leading candidate becomes the leading winner or the leading loser on election night.

“Whoever is the leading candidate becomes the leading winner or the leading loser on election night,” Stahlknecht told Die Zeit. “Anyone who has suffered an election defeat like the CDU has now, which in my view is historic, must think very carefully about their personal consequences.”

Stahlknecht also said the party’s strategy of excluding the AfD had reached its limit. “I am certain that the AfD cannot continue to be excluded as it has been until now. This election result has shown that,” he said. He argued that politicians must be able to discuss issues with a party elected by voters, including where there might be good proposals that could command consensus.

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I am certain that the AfD cannot continue to be excluded as it has been until now. This election result has shown that.

At the same time, Stahlknecht said he did not support forming a coalition with the AfD. “I am not in favor of a coalition with the AfD, but I am in favor of listening to good proposals, just as we listen to those from all the other parties elected to the state parliament,” he said. “In the end, it is about the state and its people.”

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I am not in favor of a coalition with the AfD, but I am in favor of listening to good proposals, just as we listen to those from all the other parties elected to the state parliament.

He rejected what he called the continuing focus on a political “firewall” and said the central question was whether Saxony-Anhalt could be governed stably. Asked whether he would return to politics if his party called on him, Stahlknecht said he was on vacation and had a successful law firm that his two sons planned to join. He was once viewed as a CDU hope in the state, but then-Minister-President Reiner Haseloff dismissed him in 2020 after a dispute over how to deal with the AfD. Stahlknecht had publicly considered a CDU minority government.

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In the end, it is about the state and its people.