Sworn declaration row: Pressure mounts on Saxony-Anhalt CDU leader Schulze
CDU lawmakers were to swear they had not voted for AfD candidates. The draft has been dropped, but the BSW is calling for Schulze's resignation and an AfD politician has announced a criminal complaint.
Symbolic image · Photo: Wolfgang Pehlemann Germany / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped and resized)
In Saxony-Anhalt, a withdrawn draft of a sworn declaration is causing a dispute within the CDU. Lawmakers were to affirm that they had voted neither for AfD politician Tobias Rausch as speaker of the state parliament nor for Hans-Thomas Tillschneider as deputy speaker; if they made false statements, they were to give up their seats. Both were elected in early October with more votes than the AfD has seats in parliament. The draft was rejected after a debate in the parliamentary group, and no one signed it.
CDU lawmaker Ulrich Thomas from the Harz region confirmed to ZDF that the idea was his. Caretaker state premier and CDU group leader Sven Schulze denies having presented the declaration: "The proposal was brought into the group meeting from within the group, discussed and rejected." BSW group leader Thomas Schulze nevertheless called for his resignation: "He is no longer acceptable for our state." AfD federal lawmaker Malte Kaufmann announced a criminal complaint for coercion, while Sepp Müller (CDU), deputy leader of the conservative bloc in the Bundestag, demanded clarification.
The dispute overshadows the election of the state premier in December. The AfD, which won 43.8 percent in the September state election, wants its lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund elected. In the first two rounds, 42 votes are needed; the AfD has 39 lawmakers and the BSW intends to abstain. The CDU group has agreed to leave the chamber during these rounds, but lawmaker Guido Heuer said he would vote anyway.