After the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt: First agreements between BSW and AfD

The AfD wants to change the state parliament in Saxony-Anhalt. On Wednesday afternoon, the Council of Elders met there, an informal body in which representatives of the parliamentary groups and the administration meet to make initial arrangements: When will Parliament meet for its first session, how many members should the state parliament's committees have, how should the administration arrange the seats in the plenary hall? With 39 of 83 seats, the AfD is the largest faction, but does not have an absolute majority. Nevertheless, she announced far-reaching plans in the Pre-Elders' Council on Wednesday.

There should be a new seating arrangement in this electoral period. The Greens should therefore move to the far right in the room and the AfD should move to the very center. In addition, only the AfD, CDU and BSW should have office space in the main building of the state parliament. The Left Party is currently housed in an adjacent building due to construction work. Now the AfD also wants to relocate the Greens and SPD from the state parliament.

That could actually happen. Because even if the AfD does not have its own majority, together with the five members of the BSW it is enough to achieve the necessary majority. And according to information from the taz, the BSW likes the AfD's ideas.

The fact that the AfD is not just interested in symbolically changing the state parliament was shown, for example, in the committees. A proposal from the state parliament administration stipulated that 11 members should be sent to each committee in order to reflect the conditions in the state parliament. With 5 MPs per committee, the AfD would be close to a majority, but would need support from others to prevail. In this case, the BSW would take on the same role as in Parliament, namely as a tip of the scales.

But the AfD faction doesn't seem to be satisfied with that. She called for 12 members per committee in the pre-elderly council - with 6 AfD representatives. This means she could single-handedly block anything she doesn't agree with. Committee decisions against the AfD? Excluded. The BSW also signaled its approval of this proposal, according to participants at the meeting.

But why should the BSW weaken its position in the committees themselves? At the request of the taz, the BSW said on Thursday that the parliamentary group leadership was in the election campaign in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and could not be reached at the moment. But nothing has been decided yet.

After the state elections around two weeks ago, the BSW was the only party in Saxony-Anhalt to begin holding talks with the AfD. Other factions are now saying that the two parties are apparently further along than expected. The meeting of the Council of Elders at least shows that there are already votes.

Until now, BSW representatives had emphasized that they only wanted to work with the AfD on issue-related projects. AfD parliamentary group leader Oliver Kirchner explained in an interview with the right-wing extremist medium “Compact TV” that the BSW in Saxony-Anhalt was controlled by the federal party. He repeatedly called BSW chairmen Amira Mohamed Ali and Fabio De Masi “Mohammed Ali and that half-Italian”.

BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht commented on this in an interview with the editorial network Germany: “This shows that there are some really strange characters behind Siegmund.” Her party was not elected “to enable the AfD to govern as if it had received an absolute majority.”

Meanwhile, it was discussed in the Council of Elders that the state parliament would meet for its constituent session on October 6th. However, a prime minister will probably not be elected yet. To achieve this, the MPs will certainly elect a new President of the State Parliament, formally the highest office in the country. The BSW has already stated that it will vote for the proposal of the largest parliamentary group, the AfD.