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Saxony-Anhalt Election: Merz Draws Lines Against Cooperation With the Left
🇩🇪 Germany /Elections & Politics

Saxony-Anhalt Election: Merz Draws Lines Against Cooperation With the Left

From Die Zeit · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Ongoing story
  • CDU leader and Chancellor Friedrich Merz ruled out a joint government programme with the AfD or the Left party after Saxony-Anhalt’s state election.
  • The AfD, led by Ulrich Siegmund, was ahead of the CDU in polls, while the election could produce difficult coalition or minority-government arithmetic.
  • Merz defended the federal government’s stability and criticized Siegmund’s portrayal of the past.

Friedrich Merz has set clear limits for the CDU before Saxony-Anhalt votes for a new state parliament. He said the party would not develop a joint governing programme with either the far-right AfD or the Left party, even if the election produces difficult majorities.

There are such fundamental differences between the AfD, the Left party and the Union that cooperation is excluded.

— Friedrich MerzMerz ruled out cooperation with either party after the Saxony-Anhalt election.

“There are such fundamental differences between the AfD, the Left party and the Union that cooperation is excluded,” Merz told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung and the Magdeburger Volksstimme. He said cooperation meant taking part in government and helping draft a governing programme, neither of which he saw as possible with the two parties.

The AfD, whose lead candidate is Ulrich Siegmund, led the CDU of state premier Sven Schulze in opinion polls. The party could have a chance of winning an absolute majority for the first time in a German state, potentially putting Siegmund in line for the premiership. More recent polling, however, pointed to a highly difficult distribution of seats.

The core of cooperation is participation in government and the drafting of a governing programme. I see that with neither the AfD nor the Left party.

— Friedrich MerzHe defined the type of cooperation the CDU would reject.

Merz acknowledged that a CDU-led minority government could seek shifting parliamentary majorities, as governments in Thuringia and Saxony do. In those states, CDU premiers Mario Voigt and Michael Kretschmer rely regularly on votes from the Left party, although Left politicians do not hold cabinet posts. The Left has shown openness to a similar arrangement in Saxony-Anhalt, while parliamentary leader Sören Pellmann has demanded that the party have a say in policy in return.

Mr Siegmund is making fools of people. He idealizes a past he did not experience himself. The past was not all better.

— Friedrich MerzMerz criticized the AfD candidate’s election campaign.

The CDU remains bound by a 2018 party congress decision rejecting coalitions and similar forms of cooperation with both the AfD and the Left. Merz also attacked Siegmund’s campaign, saying he presented an idealized past he had not experienced himself. He cited unemployment of about 20% in Saxony-Anhalt in 2000, compared with 8% now, and said the election result would not threaten the stability of his national government.

No. The result of a state election does not endanger the stability of the federal government.

— Friedrich MerzHe dismissed concerns that a poor CDU result would threaten his national government.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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