Saxony-Anhalt CDU Drops Plan for Sworn Statements on AfD Vote
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A proposal that CDU members of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament should swear in writing that they did not vote for two AfD candidates has been withdrawn, party members confirmed on Wednesday 28 October. The draft sworn statement was put to the CDU group at an internal meeting. Nobody signed it and it was never put to a vote.
The dispute goes back to early October, when the AfD politicians Tobias Rausch and Hans-Thomas Tillschneider were elected president and vice president of the state parliament in Magdeburg. They received more votes than the AfD has seats, and Rausch became the first AfD president of a German parliament. Since then the CDU has rejected claims that the extra votes came from its own members. The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt is classified by the state domestic intelligence service as confirmed right wing extremist.
According to CDU members, the idea came from the Harz member Ulrich Thomas. Acting Minister President and CDU group leader Sven Schulze denied that the proposal came from him or from the group leadership. Sepp Müller, deputy leader of the CDU/CSU group in the Bundestag and a candidate for the state CDU chair, said asking members about their vote "crosses a line". The BSW group called on Schulze to resign.
For residents of Saxony-Anhalt nothing changes in daily life: the state government, offices and services continue to work as before. The row shows growing tension inside the CDU over its line towards the AfD. The state CDU will elect a new chair at a party conference on 5 December.
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