Status: 01/25/2022 11:33 a.m
The AfD also wants to field a candidate in the federal presidential election – but no one from its own ranks, but the CDU politician Otte. He doesn’t rule that out. The Union threatens with consequences.
The AfD has spoken out in favor of the chairman of the conservative union of values, Max Otte, as a candidate for the office of Federal President. The confirmed party Vice Stephan Brandner. The result in a switch from the federal board and state heads the previous evening was clear, he said and spoke of a very clear commitment to Otte.
A politician has been found who enjoys a “good reputation in public,” said Brandner. When asked if Otte had already agreed, he said he had not spoken to him personally. “But as far as I know, he is still on fire as our candidate for the Federal President.”
Otte: “Think hard about it”
Otte himself did not rule out running for the AfD. “Being offered the candidacy for Federal President is one of the greatest honors that can happen to you,” said the CDU politician to the dpa news agency. “The office offers the chance to heal, to reconcile, to admonish. I consult with my family and think about it intensively.”
He told the newspaper “Die Welt” that he had thanked the AfD “for the great honor”. The “candidacy would be completely compatible with my CDU membership,” the politician continued. Apparently he also wants to campaign for support in the CDU. “I’ll be happy if my own party joins the proposal.” Yesterday, the Union of Values itself had suggested to the new CDU leader Friedrich Merz that Otte should be set up.
In the AfD federal board had after ARD information six members voted for Otte and four against him. Among the state chairmen the result was clearer with 14 to two. According to reports, Otte had been suggested by AfD boss Tino Chrupalla. According to information from Germany’s editorial network, he was looking for a counting candidate who could draw votes from the right edge of the Union.
Union speaks of party-damaging behavior
For Otte, however, approval of the candidacy could have consequences. “A candidacy for another party, especially in this case for the AfD, would be absolutely out of the question,” said the parliamentary director of the Union faction in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei. Such a candidacy would violate all rules and “would clearly be behavior damaging to the party, which would inevitably lead to an exclusion,” he added.
Baden-Württemberg’s CDU faction leader Manuel Hagel also threatened Otte with expulsion from the CDU. “Enough is enough,” he said. “Max Otte doesn’t even have to think about the nomination of the AfD. When dealing with the right, only determination counts.” Hagel emphasized: “For me, Otte no longer has any place in the CDU. For Christian Democrats, there is neither cooperation nor cooperation with this group. Either he leaves voluntarily or a party exclusion procedure must follow.”
Internal critics have long accused Otte of wanting to move the union of values to the right and open it to the AfD. According to its own statements, the Union of Values has around 4,000 members and sees itself as representing the conservative current in the Union, but is not an official party organization. Otte announced in an interview in 2017 that he wanted to vote for the AfD in the federal elections – also because of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s (CDU) course. Until January 2021, the fund manager was chairman of the board of trustees of the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, which is close to the AfD.
Otte attacked Merkel
Only recently, Otte was noticed by sharp attacks against Merkel. “The lady was GDR through and through, she was an apparatchik, she was a functionary, she was completely socialized under socialism,” he said in an online discussion. “To this day it is still incomprehensible to me that an entire country let itself be deceived by her – for 16 years or more. That is an unbelievable masterpiece, what she has done there, and it is a work of destruction.”
Shortly after his election as chairman of the Union of Values, Otte had rejected any proximity to the AfD last year. “AfD loyal is nonsense,” he said in an interview with the Deutschlandfunk. “First of all, I am a rock solid and bombproof CDU member.”
Steinmeier’s re-election is considered certain
Otte has practically no chance of becoming President. Incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier is running for a further five years with the support of the governing parties and the Union. With the votes of these parties, he can count on re-election. A good two weeks ago, the left had nominated the Mainz social doctor Gerhard Trabert as another candidate.
The Federal Assembly meets on February 13 to elect the Federal President. It will have 1,472 members – the 736 members of the Bundestag and an equal number of people delegated by the 16 state parliaments. In the past, opposition parties have repeatedly entered their own candidates in the race for the highest office, even if this was hopeless.