How to deal with the AfD? This controversial issue is likely to flare up again after the Thuringia election. An analysis shows that the CDU chose a somewhat idiosyncratic course.
Erfurt/Munich – Thuringia has been in a government crisis for five years. It cannot be taken for granted that things will improve after the state elections in September. According to all surveys, the search for a majority after election day will be based on AfD and BSW there is no way around it.
The eyes of the CDU, which is second in the polls, are focused primarily on the BSW. But it would be almost like the devil if the Thuringia election the firewall to the AfD is becoming an issue. This has caused a stir several times. An analysis of roll-call votes in the state parliament of IPPEN.MEDIA in cooperation with MPswatch now raises further question marks.
Thuringia: Why did the CDU abstain several times from AfD proposals?
Roll call votes only represent a small part of the votes in the state parliament. The voting behavior is clearly documented. All 18 independent roll call votes since the break in the Thuringian “Stability Pact” between the red-red-green coalition and the CDU were included in the analysis – only a series of extremely small-scale votes on the budget were left out. The CDU’s behavior on AfD motions is particularly striking in the data set.
In three of the four AfD initiatives voted on by name contained The CDU – the CDU parliamentarian Michael Heym even agreed to the proposal entitled “Preventing the Southlink and Southeastlink routes”. He wanted to talk to the AfD about a coalition government as early as 2019. He will not be running in the 2024 state election. The only clear no from the CDU to an AfD proposal was a motion on the subject of the burden of the EU’s climate protection measures. The AfD parliamentary group, in turn, voted in favor of six of eight CDU motions (by a majority), abstained twice, and there was no no vote.
CDU comments on AfD votes: “Both abstentions and votes against…”
In fact, in the 18 independent roll-call votes of the past three years, the CDU and AfD factions voted directly against each other only twice. A rather astonishing result for two non-affiliated opposition factions. The majority of the proposals for consideration were not government proposals. Only four of the 18 votes concerned proposals from the government or the government factions. And it was precisely one of them that split the CDU and AfD: the Christian Democrats voted for a reform of the country’s young legal talent, the AfD is against it.
But why did the CDU opt for abstentions instead of a “no”? The parliamentary group answered a question from IPPEN.MEDIA not exhaustive. “Both abstentions and votes against mean that we were unable to approve the motions,” explained a press spokesman. It remains unclear why the symbolically milder abstentions were chosen. However, the spokesman also made a kind of promise for the Thuringian state parliament CDU: “We have not approved any parliamentary initiatives by the AfD faction in the past and will not do so in the future.”
With AfD help to state parliament success: CDU could have provoked scandal earlier
A vote on the Thuringian School Act at the end of 2021 is also worth a look. Even then, long before the scandals surrounding CDU initiatives on gender equality and a reduction in real estate transfer tax, which were successful thanks to AfD votes, the hard right almost became the deciding factor. At that time, the CDU lacked five votes for parliamentary success – and exactly six AfD MPs abstained, unlike eleven colleagues from the parliamentary group who voted yes.
Either way, it seems possible that the Thuringian AfD is slowly but surely seeping through the firewall. The signals to that effect were given by Sahra Wagenknecht’s Thuringian front woman Katja Wolf. In a round of the top candidates in the MDR she did not rule out support for AfD proposals per se. She believes that “the very blinkered way of dealing with each other is actually no longer appropriate,” said Wolf.
What is needed is “for God’s sake” not a “normal” but a “substantive approach” to the Thuringian AfD, which is classified as right-wing extremist, Björn Höcke. She does not expect the AfD to come up with any initiatives that would be worthy of approval, said the former mayor of Eisenach. But: “If that is how it is to be, then it will be discussed, then it is the power of the argument in the political arena.” Thuringia’s current head of government, Bodo Ramelow, was appalled by his former party colleague: “I am amazed at how flexible Ms. Wolf is,” he said. (fn)
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