Former CSU party vice-president and long-serving Member of the Bundestag Peter Gauweiler has called for his party to run in joint participation with the Free Voters (Freie Wähler) in the next federal election. Gauweiler told the newspaper “Bild am Sonntag” that the Free Voters should be advised to compete under the joint banner of Bündnis Freie Wähler/CSU. He justified this demand by pointing out that while there is a clear majority positioned to the right of the center, the current government is located to the left. Furthermore, the strong presence of the AfD forces the Union to repeatedly cooperate with the SPD or the Greens.
According to Gauweiler, a nationwide collaboration between the Free Voters and the CSU could secure the necessary support base beyond the center. He noted, “The AfD is tabooed and the FDP is too weak to gather the required votes”. He cited Bavaria as a positive example, stating that Bavaria and the CSU owe the Free Voters credit for avoiding “the debacle seen in other states” where they were forced to trail behind the Greens. Currently, the CSU has been in a coalition with the Free Voters in Bavaria since 2018.
Gauweiler further commented that while a figure like Aiwanger has sharpened the profile of the Free Voters, he has not yet found sustained success in broader national or federal mandates. He believes that uniting with the CSU would provide voters with a new incentive to support the Free Voters. He concluded by adding that the responsibility for selecting candidates from counties and municipalities outside of Bavaria would initially fall to the Free Voters.
