Bernd Baumann, the first parliamentary secretary of the AfD parliamentary group, stated clearly that a coalition with the BSW in Saxony-Anhalt is not an option for him. Instead, he favors the CDU or its dissenters, though he views new elections as a fallback possibility.
Addressing the TV channel “Welt,” he mocked a proposal by NRW Minister-President Hendrik Wüst (CDU) to establish a working group to review AfD banning procedures. “I actually laugh about that. It just shows the desperation of these supporters within the CDU-the liberals and the left-greens-to try and ban a party of 44 percent through such a method.”
In Saxony-Anhalt, Baumann perceives significant areas of common ground with the CDU. He asserts that the BSW does not constitute an alternative for government formation, and he considers a coalition with this party illogical. He dismisses the BSW as little more than an “adventurer troop,” adding that this group is currently disbanding in Thuringia.
Baumann argues that the central focus should be on the CDU, which continues to attract votes that originally desired a conservative shift. However, he notes that the CDU loses these votes from one election to the next because it fails to implement the promised change. He believes it is only a matter of time before the CDU shifts-either individually within its ranks or as a whole. “If they don’t want to completely crash and burn, we don’t control that; that decision must be made within the CDU itself.”
If the CDU persists with its “left-green” orientation, Baumann predicts that it will continue to decline, politically “bleeding out,” and that this would signal the end of the CDU as a political force in Germany. Should the CDU remain unwilling to compromise, Baumann sees new elections as the logical next step. If nothing materializes, he suggests the populace should be addressed again to determine whether they desire this change or not. According to Baumann, the democratic structure is “very clear” in this matter: “It demands solutions, and it will receive them. Either with the CDU or without the CDU.”
