After state elections in Saxony-Anhalt: SPD is sticking to talks

The conversation about forming a government in Saxony-Anhalt is also taking place without the CDU. Juliane Kleemann, the state chairwoman of the SPD, explained this at the request of the taz. It is in the country's interest to explore options together. "A government that relies on the AfD or changing majorities with it is out of the question. Our invitation therefore remains unchanged."

In a surprising letter on Wednesday, the SPD invited the Greens, the Left, the BSW and the CDU to talk next Tuesday about how a state government could be formed in Saxony-Anhalt - without the AfD. “We would particularly like to discuss the proposed proposal to elect a non-partisan prime minister,” the invitation says.

In the state elections three weeks ago, the AfD achieved its highest result to date with around 44 percent. However, she failed to achieve her goal of a majority in parliament. The other parties could govern without them if they can come to an agreement. But on Thursday morning the CDU canceled.

The Union will not take part because the board in Saxony-Anhalt has already decided that the CDU will go into opposition. In the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, the Union only received 17.2 percent of the vote, around 20 percentage points less than in the previous election. The regional association says that in order to recover, you have to reorganize yourself. Continuing to govern Saxony-Anhalt as in the past 24 years is therefore out of the question.

This reduces the likelihood of forming a government in Saxony-Anhalt apart from the AfD. The BSW started talking to the national authoritarian party just a few days after the election. The BSW rules out a coalition. But the fact that the parties agree on some things was already apparent before the first state parliament session.

As the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reported, according to the parliamentary director of the AfD, Tobias Rausch, the BSW is ready to make an appointment: If the BSW elects an AfD state parliament president at the first state parliament session on October 6th, it will get a position with the vice-presidents of the state parliament. However, BSW federal chairwoman Amira Mohamed Ali denies such an agreement.

However, it is still unclear what the outcome of the Prime Minister election will be. Both parties emphasize that they are not under any time pressure. And in response to the SPD's invitation to talk without the AfD, BSW state chairman Thomas Schulze told the dpa: "We are pleased that our proposal from the non-partisan Prime Minister has met with approval." At the same time, he was surprised that the AfD, the largest faction, was not invited.

After the CDU's rejection, Thomas Schulze told the taz: "We consider the CDU's attitude of refusing to hold any talks to be undemocratic and unworthy of a parliamentary party." Talks are the necessary first step to constructively solve the country's problems.

However, Hendrik Lange and Janina Böttger, the chairmen of the Left in Saxony-Anhalt, told the taz that they would still go to the SPD meeting. “Especially because no one can present a simple solution at the moment, we think it is even more important to talk to each other at all.” We believe it is wrong that the CDU is not prepared to do so “in the current situation”.