Pellmann Demands: Merz Must Unite the Ranks in the CDU

Following the election of the AfD state parliament president in Saxony-Anhalt, Sören Pellmann, leader of the Left Party’s Bundestag caucus, called on Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) to take decisive action within his own party. “As party chairman, he has a responsibility to close ranks within his own party—otherwise, he is aligning himself with the Magdeburg scandal and increasingly paving the way for the far-right AfD to come to power,” the Leipzig-based member of the Bundestag told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). 

Merz should explain “how he intends to regain control of his party and prevent CDU votes for an AfD minister-president or other forms of cooperation between his party and the AfD.”

On Tuesday, Tobias Rausch was elected as the AfD’s first state parliament president in Germany. In the secret ballot for state parliament president, Rausch received 48 out of 82 votes—four more than the AfD and BSW parliamentary groups have combined.

Merz Considers a “False-Flag Operation” Possible

On Wednesday, the Chancellor had warned against “hasty conclusions” regarding votes from the CDU. Merz also spoke of the possibility of a “false-flag operation” by lawmakers from other parliamentary groups aimed at discrediting CDU members. There are at least two, perhaps even three groups in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament “that are doing everything they can to undermine cohesion in our democracy,” he said at an event in Berlin. He did not specify which third group he was referring to besides the AfD and the BSW.

Pellmann rejected the statements. “It is scandalous how the CDU is trying to shirk responsibility,” said Pellmann. “Neither the Greens, nor the Left Party, nor even Santa Claus would have given the AfD the votes for the far-right state parliament president.” Merz must not shy away from this.