Saxony-Anhalt election: BSW’s lead candidate sees “common ground” with AfD

Thomas Schulze has refused to rule out talks with the AfD after the state election in Saxony-Anhalt. “We said we would speak with all parties. That includes the AfD,” the BSW lead candidate told the German Press Agency. “The firewall does not interest us, and we will speak with all parties.”

Schulze said the BSW and AfD had several areas of common ground, especially over Russia. Both parties oppose the sanctions, which he said were severely damaging the economy, and both support affordable energy.

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We said we would speak with all parties. That includes the AfD. The firewall does not interest us, and we will speak with all parties.

The overlap has limits. Schulze said the AfD’s education policies were unacceptable to the BSW and that the parties were “very, very far apart” on that issue. He also said the BSW took a more socially oriented position on economic policy.

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We already have several areas of common ground, especially on the Russia question, where we say we are against these sanctions that are practically ruining our economy.

If the BSW clears the threshold for the state parliament, its parliamentary group could become decisive in the election of the minister-president. Schulze did not say whether BSW lawmakers would follow a group position or vote independently. “We are not stipulating anything for now,” he said. “First we have to get inside, and from tomorrow we will take the next steps.”

Schulze said he believed the AfD was hoping to attract defectors from the CDU. AfD leader Tino Chrupalla has said the party’s lead candidate, Ulrich Siegmund, will stand for minister-president in the state parliament.

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We are not stipulating anything for now. First we have to get inside, and from tomorrow we will take the next steps.