Blue-black coalition in the East
Alice Weidel charms the CDU
24.08.2024, 09:43
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Most Germans do not want to see the AfD in government after the state elections in the east. But the party is doing everything it can to convert its promising poll results into power. Federal leader Alice Weidel is therefore knocking on the door of the CDU.
Ahead of the upcoming state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, AfD co-leader Alice Weidel has made a coalition offer to the CDU. “We in the AfD are ready to form coalitions with the CDU if this is feasible in terms of content and the Union moves,” she told “Welt am Sonntag” according to a preliminary report. “We owe that to our voters. The ball is therefore in the CDU’s court,” said Weidel.
In the latest polls, the AfD is clearly ahead in Thuringia and Brandenburg, and in Saxony it is in a close race with the CDU for the position of strongest force. Nevertheless, it looks like it will be difficult to form a government in all three states. One reason: the CDU has already ruled out coalitions with the AfD after the elections. However, majority alliances may only be possible with the AfD or Sahra Wagenknecht’s BSW.
According to a recent survey for the “Welt am Sonntag”, 55 percent of people across Germany reject the AfD’s participation in government after the elections in the east. In Saxony and Thuringia, the AfD is classified by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as definitely right-wing extremist, and in Brandenburg as a so-called suspected right-wing extremist case.
“That would kill the CDU”
CDU leader Friedrich Merz has also warned his party’s East German regional associations again about the dangers of working with the AfD. “That would kill the CDU,” Merz told the editorial network Germany. “The destruction of the CDU is also the AfD’s goal. We must not extend a hand to those who want to eliminate us politically.”
Before the elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, Merz said, there is “a small part of our members who believe that we should work with the AfD.” However, the “clear majority” is against it, said the party leader. The CDU must explain “that there are limits to what we call conservative,” said the Union parliamentary group leader. “These limits are exceeded when things become right-wing extremist, right-wing radical, anti-democratic, anti-Semitic and xenophobic.”