Saxony-Anhalt | Left rejects BSW plan for Saxony-Anhalt

Thomas Schulze and Claudia Wittig led the BSW in Saxony-Anhalt in the election campaign Photo: dpa/Jan Woitas The Left in Saxony-Anhalt rejects the proposal of a non-partisan prime minister, first launched by the BSW. “We will not support this because it is not a stable solution for our country,” said co-state chairwoman Janina Böttger to “nd”. It is currently neither possible to foresee who this person could be, nor is there an “effective majority beyond the AfD” in the state parliament, said Böttger. “But that would be a prerequisite for a corresponding candidacy.”

The BSW has been peddling the idea for months and reaffirmed it on election night. The federal chairwoman Amira Mohamed Ali said that neither AfD top candidate Ulrich Siegmund nor the previous CDU head of government Sven Schulze would be elected. Rather, they want a non-partisan prime minister who governs “with changing majorities with the involvement of the entire state parliament” – including with the AfD. The likelihood of this model, she added, “increased significantly on election night.”

In fact, initially the SPD and then the Greens indicated that they wanted to support the idea under certain conditions. The trigger for this is that there is a stalemate in the state parliament between the AfD on the one hand and the CDU, SPD, Greens and Left on the other, each of which has 39 members. With five seats, the BSW is essentially tipping the scales. The AfD failed to achieve the sole government it wanted and is dependent on support. Only the BSW accepted your invitation to explore.

In view of this complicated situation, SPD leading candidate Armin Willingmann initially indicated support for the BSW idea on the evening of the election. Admittedly, this is not the first method of choice. But if it helps break a deadlock in the state parliament, the SPD might agree. Finally, the Greens also declared that a non-partisan head of government was "not what we wanted." Whether such a solution would work is “completely open.” But if there is “a suitable person and a viable path” and “both a fascist government and a permanent blockade can be prevented,” the opportunity will not be turned down. This, the party added, was “no approximation of the BSW.”

"The BSW is trying to gain time to form a de facto alliance with the AfD after the election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania."

However, the Left, which, like the SPD and the Greens, has eight MPs, is the first party represented in the state parliament to explicitly speak out against the proposal. With this, party leader Böttger suspects, the BSW is simply trying to “gain time” to “form a de facto alliance with the AfD” after the election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on September 20th.

This assessment corresponds to that of the current head of government, Sven Schulze. The CDU man explained that he was "pretty sure" that after the election in the northeast, the AfD and BSW in Saxony-Anhalt would "tell the truth, that they had already reached an agreement." The CDU, which fell from 37.1 to 17.2 percent in the election and is now only represented by 15 members in the state parliament, has not yet commented on the idea of ​​a non-partisan head of government. However, Schulze emphasizes that they no longer have “any government mandate.” Already on the evening of the election, he emphasized: "It is clear to us: we have been voted out."

Theoretically, an independent Prime Minister in Saxony-Anhalt would be possible. The state constitution does not stipulate that the head of government must belong to a party or parliament. In order to be elected, he needs an absolute majority in the first two ballots, i.e. 42 votes in the 83-member state parliament. In a third round of voting, a simple majority is sufficient. If all 39 AfD MPs vote for Siegmund and the BSW abstains as announced, he would come into office if a single other MP from the ranks of the CDU, SPD, Greens and Left does not vote against him.

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