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ALEMANIA Merz faces backlash after suggesting a political setup in AfD lawmaker’s election
Green and Left politicians criticized the German chancellor after his remarks on the vote that made Tobias Rausch president of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament. The dispute over where the decisive votes came from remains unresolved.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz came under sharp criticism from Green and Left politicians after suggesting that the election of AfD politician Tobias Rausch as president of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament may have involved a political setup, according to Der Spiegel.
Speaking at a summit organized by Handelsblatt and Wirtschaftswoche, Merz said such operations exist not only in military affairs but also in politics, and warned against rushing to conclusions, the magazine reported.
Green parliamentary secretary Irene Mihalic described the chancellor’s speculation as an outrageous affront. Der Spiegel, citing remarks she gave to Rheinische Post, said she argued that a responsible party leader should instead have promised clarification within his own ranks. Green parliamentary leader Britta Haßelmann likewise said Merz, who also leads the CDU, should explain what Rausch’s election means and how he intends to respond.
Left party leader Ines Schwerdtner also reacted angrily. According to Der Spiegel, she told RTL and n-tv that the claim that votes for the AfD candidate could have come from the Left, the Greens or the SPD was nonsense. She said she could rule out with great confidence that her party had backed Rausch, and accused Merz of trying to distract from his own political troubles and from the CDU’s social cutbacks.
Schwerdtner also demanded consequences, accusing the chancellor of failing to see that people in his own camp had helped bring a far-right politician to power, Der Spiegel reported.
The report adds that AfD has secured the presidency of a state parliament for the first time in Germany with Rausch. There are conflicting accounts about the additional votes: Saxony-Anhalt CDU parliamentary leader Sven Schulze denied that his party provided support for Rausch, while Rausch and AfD claim he reached a majority with CDU votes.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
