Wagenknecht: We will work with anyone willing to pursue change in Saxony-Anhalt

Sahra Wagenknecht has left open the possibility of cooperation between her BSW party and the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt, while rejecting parts of the far-right party’s program.

“We will work together politically with anyone who is prepared to implement the changes that people in our country want,” Wagenknecht said in an interview with ZDF’s heute journal. She added that the AfD program contained “a number of positions” her party did not share. “There will be no support for them, but clear resistance,” she said.

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We will work together politically with anyone who is prepared to implement the changes that people in our country want.

Wagenknecht repeated the BSW proposal to nominate a nonpartisan minister-president who would govern with changing parliamentary majorities. She said the proposal did not become invalid simply because AfD lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund had rejected it. The BSW still wanted talks with all parties, including the AfD, about a leader respected across party lines and associated with a political new beginning.

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There will be no support for them, but clear resistance.

She said the AfD had so far made no proposal for talks with the BSW. Siegmund had instead indicated that he would speak with lawmakers from the CDU in the hope of securing a majority. Wagenknecht said it was his right to do so, given the AfD’s strong election result, and that he would be elected if the CDU or CDU members chose him.

The BSW narrowly cleared the 5% threshold in the state election. With the AfD taking 43.8%, the BSW could help create majorities. Wagenknecht had ruled out a coalition with the AfD before the election, while leaving the door open to cooperation on individual issues.

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We still consider it sensible to talk with the parties, and the invitation also applies to the AfD, about a nonpartisan minister-president who is respected beyond party lines and stands for a political new beginning.