Internal disagreements are intensifying within the BSW regarding how the party should approach the AfD. Steffen Schütz, the Infrastructure Minister for Thuringia, told the “Tagesspiegel” (Friday edition) that the party was founded and built upon the idea of providing a democratic alternative for people who felt overlooked by established politics. He emphasized that the goal was not to “help Höcke, Weidel, and colleagues come to power.” Schütz stressed that the BSW’s focus is on social cohesion, economic common sense, and peace, “not on division and exclusion.”
Schütz leveled serious criticism against BSW federal chairman Fabio de Masi, Amira Mohamed Ali, and party founder Sahra Wagenknecht. He stated that their “dangerous course” was crossing boundaries he was no longer willing to tolerate, and this was happening without any internal party discussion or consensus building.
Despite Schütz’s sharp critique, de Masi, Mohamed Ali, and Wagenknecht currently support collaborating with the AfD following the state election in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6. According to Wagenknecht, their election objective is the removal of the current CDU incumbent, who must be replaced by a cross-party Prime Minister leading a competence cabinet characterized by shifting majorities, which “means: also with the AfD.” Furthermore, she noted that if other parties refuse this model, BSW members will abstain in the third round of voting.
Meanwhile, Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD’s top candidate for Saxony-Anhalt, has rejected the BSW’s offers. In context, the BSW currently holds four or five percent in recent pre-election polls. Previously, Björn Höcke, the head of the Thuringian AfD party and parliamentary group, offered Wagenknecht the opportunity to become Prime Minister with the support of AfD votes. Currently, the government in Erfurt is run by a coalition of the CDU, BSW, and SPD.
