Demand from the SPD and the left: CDU should withdraw election advertising

A CDU election campaign is causing criticism. It shows a “lateral thinker” who storms a podium from Chancellor candidate Laschet. The SPD and the Left called on the party to withdraw the video.

The CDU election commercial, in which a “lateral thinker” can be seen in a short scene at the side of the Union candidate for chancellor, causes outrage. The SPD and the Left Party asked the CDU to withdraw the spot. They justified this with the publication of the video after the killing of a gas station cashier in Idar-Oberstein, which apparently occurred after a dispute over compliance with the mask requirement.

It is “absolutely unacceptable that the CDU chancellor candidate has a corona denier appear in his most recent election spot who apparently has connections with the right-wing extremist scene,” said left-wing chairwoman Susanne Hennig-Wellsow of the AFP news agency. Democratic parties should “not court lateral thinkers, they have to confront them”. To the address of the Union Chancellor candidate, she said: “Something like that doesn’t work, Mr. Laschet – especially not after the attack in Idar-Oberstein.”

SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil made a similar statement. “While the investigations into the terrible act are still ongoing, the CDU dares to advertise Armin Laschet with an election campaign spot in which a radical lateral thinker is played down,” said Klingbeil to the editorial network in Germany. He was “incomprehensible how a party and its candidate for chancellor can be so disrespectful”. The SPD general secretary asked Laschet to withdraw the video and to apologize to the relatives of the victim.

“Lateral thinker” storms the election stage

A petrol station cashier was shot dead in Idar-Oberstein at the weekend. According to the investigators, he had initially informed the alleged perpetrator of compliance with the mask requirement. There was a discussion. The suspect later entered the gas station again, pulled a revolver out of his pocket and fired a fatal shot at the cashier.

The CDU spot also provoked some indignant reactions because it was shown after this act. In the controversial scene, a “lateral thinker” jumps onto the stage next to Laschet. The man complained about corona measures at the time. This is supported by the statement that the CDU also speaks to those who have “a critical attitude”.

Shortly after the election advertising was published, politicians from several parties were outraged. The former chairman of the German Ethics Council, Peter Dabrock, was appalled that the CDU was sticking to the commercial “after the terrible terrorist murder of Idar-Oberstein”. The Greens health expert Janosch Dahmen wrote on Twitter that the video was “a mockery for all those who fight the virus with solidarity and commitment”. The Vice-President of the EU Parliament, Katarina Barley, criticized in a tweet that the CDU was curating about the “lateral thinkers” and was fishing on the right.

Laschet defends election commercial

Laschet defended the election video. It shows someone jumping on stage at a rally and asking some questions. He thinks, “you have to answer the critics’ questions, but you also have to contradict them in plain language and say: We will not tolerate hatred and resentment being stirred up,” Laschet said in im ARD lunch magazine. Regarding the act in Idar-Oberstein, he said: The murder attempt shows “what some in the lateral thinker scene, especially the AfD, have achieved with their hatred.”

Previously, the dpa news agency reported that the CDU said that the video was very well received by the members. The scene with the “lateral thinker” was remembered from the election campaign. It shows that Laschet does not avoid any conflict. A similar scene was found in an earlier CDU election commercial. There, however, the same sentences are spoken about images of environmental and climate activists.