SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch has called on the CDU to face consequences regarding the election of the AfD’s president in Saxony-Anhalt, noting that the CDU allegedly assisted in bringing the individual into office. Speaking to the weekly magazine “Die Zeit”, Miersch stated, “I expect the federal party to demand a thorough investigation and draw consequences from it.”
He also warned the CDU against electing the AfD politician Ulrich Siegmund as Minister President in December. The SPD politician warned that if parts of the CDU’s parliamentary group were proven to have elected an AfD Minister President, it would certainly constitute a form of collaboration, adding that this move would violate the coalition agreement and place severe strain on the federal government.
Miersch expressed his outrage over CDU politicians equating the Left (Die Linken) with the AfD, labeling both as extremist parties. “I firmly reject this equivalence,” he stated. Although he acknowledged his concerns regarding accusations of antisemitism against individual members of the Left, he maintained that the party itself is not extremist. With an eye toward a potential coalition involving the Left, the Greens, and the SPD in Berlin, the SPD faction leader asserted that the greatest current threat to democracy originates “from the right, not from the left.”
