analysis
The coalition of CDU, SPD and FDP in Saxony-Anhalt repeatedly fails because of an important personnel issue. There is great distrust within Haseloff’s coalition – also because of the AfD.
One stared straight ahead, petrified, the other banged on the table. Saxony-Anhalt’s CDU Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff and “his” parliamentary group leader Guido Heuer each showed their dissatisfaction with the result of the vote in their own way. The candidate for the position of state data protection officer failed in the third ballot on Wednesday. A vote was missing. The coalition of CDU, SPD and FDP had failed once again because of the personnel.
Reiner Haseloff knows that. The CDU politician is Germany’s longest-serving head of government. But during his tenure, it was never possible to elect a data protection officer for Saxony-Anhalt. There were several attempts. First the black-red-green “Kenya” coalition failed from 2018, now the self-proclaimed “Germany” alliance.
Again frustration in the state parliament
New candidates came up. The quorum for the election was lowered, and eventually the procedure was even changed. The current candidate, a lawyer from Halle, was proposed by CDU faction leader Heuer himself.
The three secret ballots, including interruptions, lasted almost four hours on Wednesday. Haseloff is also an MP. According to participants in parliamentary group meetings, both before the election and between the elections, he appealed to a sense of responsibility. CDU country chief Sven Schulze and Heuer are said to have done the same. Most recently, all three coalition factions sat together. It didn’t help.
The CDU, SPD and FDP together make up 56 of the 97 members of the Magdeburg state parliament. Four were absent from this session. At least four others failed to approve the candidate. Because the election was secret, it is not possible to say exactly who refused to vote for the candidate – and thus for their own parliamentary group leadership.
Many MPs suspected the dissenters in the CDU, including group colleagues. Some CDU members, in turn, want to have identified telltale signs and personal motives in the SPD and FDP. In any case, so far no one has come out of the cover. Former state parliament president Detlef Gürth, a CDU man, stated: “The coalition does not have a majority.” New elections would be consistent.
Germany’s first black-red-yellow alliance since the 1950s has actually been going quite well. Group leaders and the government always emphasize that disputes are resolved constructively and internally, not carried out externally. The settlement of the US chip manufacturer Intel in Magdeburg is also the largest single investment in German post-war history. Also thanks to the state government.
Not a bad interim result, if it weren’t for the embarrassment about the choice of a data protection officer. And a new survey that sees the CDU and AfD almost on a par in the state.
help refused
The nerves were blank after the failed election again. An angry CDU MP called out to a Green party that they should have voted “for the country”. The left-wing faction was also accused of playing games after some members of parliament wanted to vote first for and then against the candidate. That cannot be checked. Nor does it answer the question of why the coalition did not have a majority.
Urgent mediation offers from the Greens in the plenary hall to elect the coalition candidate in return for a strengthening of the data protection office were rejected by the CDU parliamentary group leadership. Haseloff, on the other hand, is said to have been open to it.
How stable is Haseloff’s coalition?
When asked, Haseloff did not want to comment on the situation. “The legislature”, i.e. the state parliament, is responsible, he said between the elections. That same evening he has to ask himself how stable his coalition is.
So far, no one has dared to back out of open legislative votes. However, one element of uncertainty remains. In the last election period, some CDU members voted with the AfD. Some still sit in the state parliament today. In 2020, Haseloff was only able to settle the dispute over higher broadcasting fees with a daring manoeuvre: he fired his interior minister and withdrew the vote. In addition, he needed two ballots in both 2016 and 2021 to be elected Prime Minister.
It is possible that individual SPD members or FDP members were involved. However, the CDU parliamentary group is in self-employment mode. Group Vice Frank Bommersbach is criticized for his leadership. He is also said to have had confidential talks with the right-wing AfD faction. Bommersbach himself and parliamentary group leader Heuer deny that. After Wednesday, in any case, both are ailing. Heuer has not been in office for a year yet.
Only AfD scandal remains
Ironically, it could have been worse. The AfD faction had to tagesschau.de-Information already made a decision weeks ago: If there is a signal from the CDU that this time an AfD candidate for the office of vice president of the state parliament will be partially supported, then some of the 23 MPs would vote for the CDU data protection officer.
Both elections were held one after the other on Wednesday. Since 2021, the AfD had failed in more than a dozen attempts to get their candidates through. Apparently, the CDU signal never came.
However, the AfD parliamentary group missed the opportunity to expose the coalition: in a second or third round of voting, the AfD could suddenly have declared itself state-supporting and secured the majority. Just as their Berlin AfD colleagues claimed to have done when electing Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner. According to several MPs, the CDU, SPD and FDP were not prepared for this case.
Representatives of the coalition have announced talks about how to proceed. So far they have not been scheduled.
The AfD candidate for the vice presidential office fell through again. Group circles said they were now considering publishing the names of other CDU MPs who had held talks with the AfD in the past.