SPD Leader Defends Saxony's Course: "BSW Is Not the AfD"

Following the AfD’s strong election results in Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony’s SPD leader Henning Homann defended the course of the black-red minority coalition in the Free State. He noted that there has been a loss of trust in democratic institutions and parties for years. However, the current minority government, which organizes shifting majorities in the Dresden state parliament, is functioning “surprisingly well,” Homann told the “Freie Presse.” With shifting majorities, the coalition remains capable of taking action.

Homann also defended cooperation with Saxony’s BSW parliamentary group, even though the BSW in Saxony-Anhalt is considering talks with the AfD and party founder Wagenknecht has repeatedly spoken out in favor of working with the party. “The BSW is not the AfD,” Homann said in an interview with the newspaper. In Saxony, he noted, the caucus has shown that it is interested in constructive cooperation. The AfD, by contrast, has so far used every opportunity in Saxony to “destabilize this democracy.”