- Automotive Aide desires to express views in countries where CDU and SPD hold reservations
Talks of potential alliances in Erfurt or Dresden could involve BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht, as per media reports. According to an interview with Spiegel, she stated that she would be present at the negotiation table post-elections. "If discussions are taking place in Saxony and Thuringia, we'll collaborate closely with our leading candidates, and of course, I'll also contribute personally," she said.
SPD is against external meddling
Nine days before the state elections in the two eastern German regions, this is generating controversy over potential government configurations and BSW's intentions. The German Press Agency reported that Thuringia's SPD leader Georg Maier expressed, "The BSW can certainly choose who they wish to accompany. However, external interference isn't welcome. That's not how it works. We won't accept conditions being imposed that we can't decide in Thuringia. Such conditions have no place in a coalition agreement."**
Wagenknecht set other parties' stances on Germany's Ukrainian policy as a condition for potential coalition agreements following the state elections, which some regard as blackmail.**
Wagenknecht: "contribute personally"
Thuringia's CDU leader Mario Voigt reiterated his stance on the coalition matter: "As long as Sahra Wagenknecht is making calls for Thuringia from Saarland, we have no grounds for negotiations with the BSW." Wagenknecht responded, "The BSW Thuringia won't receive any calls from Saarland. I'm always eager to visit Erfurt, Thuringia is my home, I grew up here, I have family here, I'm always welcomed here." Wagenknecht was born in Jena, lived part of her childhood in the region, and also studied there. A campaign appearance is scheduled in her hometown on Monday.**
Questions about the desire to govern**
Wagenknecht recently reiterated her conditions for potential coalitions. She told dpa, "Two-thirds of the citizens reject the deployment of US missiles in Germany. We are simply requesting that the state government represents what the majority of the people desire." It's the essence of democracy that the will of the majority should prevail in politics. "The days of the manipulative theater of the other parties claiming we're imposing unbearable conditions should now cease," she said.**
Maier argued that it's common to exclude state-level unattainable issues from coalition agreements. "Mrs. Wagenknecht has no interest in Thuringia. She only cares about her own interests, which inevitably relate to the federal election," said Maier. He raised doubts about whether Wagenknecht even wants her party to be part of the state governments in Saxony or Thuringia. "That's how it appears from my perspective," he said, suggesting that if she did, she would be more cautious.**
Several Thuringian councilors also voiced their concerns. "Anyone trying to mislead voters during the state election campaign into believing that this election decides issues of war and peace is lying to the voters," said 17 councilors and mayors in a statement. They expect solutions to Thuringian problems.**
CDU sees destructive potential
Not only in Thuringia was Wagenknecht's statements about potential government structures criticized. "The days of the Politburo are over, where someone in Berlin could dictate what happens locally," said the Saxon Minister-President Michael Kretschmer (CDU). Wagenknecht has "a unique ability (...), to destroy things. She has never succeeded in constructing something. And so it is this time as well."
He criticized Wagenknecht's interventions, strange alliances, and lines drawn in the sand. "This humiliation of one's own members locally, that is truly atrocious. But it is also what we've come to expect from her over the years."
The CDU's Brandenburg state election top candidate, Jan Redmann, stated: "I'm uncertain whether the Left Party even intends to govern seriously in the states." If they did, they would engage in state-level political discussions. However, he has "the impression that Sahra Wagenknecht is currently building positions at the federal level to prevent coalitions in the states. Her goal is not to allow serious exploratory talks in the states."
The CDU in Saxony strongly criticizes Sahra Wagenknecht's interference in local government structures, labeling her unique ability as destructive rather than constructive.
Despite opposition from the CDU in Saarland, Sahra Wagenknecht, the leading figure of BSW Thuringia, remains determined to contribute personally to any potential coalition negotiations post-elections in Thuringia.
