Saxony-Anhalt: CDU to walk out of AfD leader Siegmund's election – Weidel mocks plan
Fourteen of 15 CDU lawmakers in Magdeburg backed leaving the chamber during December's vote for state premier. AfD leaders call it 'kindergarten' and still expect Siegmund to win.
Archive image · Photo: Roy Zuo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The Christian Democrats in Saxony-Anhalt's state parliament will leave the chamber when AfD state leader Ulrich Siegmund stands for election as premier in December. After a meeting of about three hours on Tuesday, 14 of the group's 15 lawmakers voted for the move; former group leader Guido Heuer abstained, saying he wanted legal advice first. Group leader Sven Schulze said: "Together means all 15 together." The aim is to dispel any suspicion that CDU members might back Siegmund in the secret ballot.
The backdrop is last week's election of AfD lawmaker Tobias Rausch as parliament speaker, in which he received at least four more votes than the AfD and BSW hold seats combined. In a first round Siegmund needs at least 42 votes; the AfD has 39 seats and the BSW has said it will abstain. Political scientist Marcel Lewandowski said the walkout is no reliable safeguard, because in a third round a majority of votes cast would suffice.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel called the plan "kindergarten of the highest order" in Berlin and said: "Ulrich Siegmund will become premier." Co-leader Tino Chrupalla spoke of a "capitulation of the CDU." Tensions inside the CDU persist: lawmaker Marco Tullner told broadcaster MDR he was considering a split from the group as an "option."