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Saxony-Anhalt Premier Schulze rules out Left, AfD support after election
🇩🇪 Germany /Elections & Politics

Saxony-Anhalt Premier Schulze rules out Left, AfD support after election

From Der Spiegel · () German

Translated from German, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Saxony-Anhalt's Minister-President Sven Schulze (CDU) stated he will not seek support from the Left party or the AfD after the state election.
  • Schulze aims to avoid becoming dependent on either party, emphasizing a desire for a majority from the center.
  • Recent polls suggest the ruling CDU-SPD-FDP coalition may lose its majority, with the AfD leading and potentially influencing government formation.

Sven Schulze, the Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt, has declared he will not seek votes or rely on support from the Left party (Die Linke) or the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) following the upcoming state election. Schulze, a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), emphasized his intention to avoid dependence on these parties, stating, "I will not go to the AfD and not to the Left party and ask for votes."

I will not go to the AfD and not to the Left party and ask for votes. I will not make myself dependent on the AfD and also not on the Left party.

— Sven SchulzeExplaining his strategy regarding potential coalition partners after the state election.

The state election is scheduled for September 6. Current polling indicates that the existing coalition of CDU, Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Free Democratic Party (FDP) might lose its majority. The AfD is currently leading in the polls and is aiming for a solo government, though a CDU-led minority government, potentially cooperating with the Left party on specific issues, is also a possibility.

I have no intention of dealing with such issues now.

— Sven SchulzeResponding to a question about tolerating a Left party endorsement in parliament.

When pressed on whether he would tolerate a Left party endorsement in parliament, Schulze deferred, stating he would wait for the election results. He acknowledged that if a majority from the center does not emerge, "then there will probably be no election of the Minister-President in Saxony-Anhalt for a longer period."

If there is no majority from the center, then there will probably be no election of the Minister-President in Saxony-Anhalt for a longer period.

— Sven SchulzeDiscussing the potential consequences of a fragmented election result.

Concerns have been raised within the CDU about potential cooperation with the Left party. Two former CDU leaders in the state, Karl-Heinz Daehre and Gerd Gies, have warned Schulze against allowing the Left party to tolerate his government, arguing it would lead to the CDU's "irrelevance." They cited the "Magdeburg Model" of the 1990s, where an SPD-led minority government was tolerated by the former SED party, describing that period as "disastrous."

the CDU will sink into irrelevance

— Karl-Heinz Daehre and Gerd GiesWarning Schulze against accepting tolerance from the Left party.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Der Spiegel in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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