Parties
Eastern elections: SPD wants to fight for majorities without AfD
The SPD wants to “do everything to ensure that there are democratic majorities.” Photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
A few months before three important state elections in the East, the SPD’s poll ratings are in single figures. What is the reaction? And what do you think of the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance?
The SPD will “do everything to ensure that there are democratic majorities,” said Mast. Around two and a half months before the state election in Thuringia, the SPD is at seven percent. The strongest force would be the AfD with 28 percent, followed by the CDU with 23 and the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) alliance with 21 percent. Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow’s Left Party would only get 11 percent. A three-way alliance of the CDU, BSW and SPD would be mathematically possible.
SPD and BSW?
When asked whether the SPD was ready for such a coalition, Mast said: “That question does not arise at the moment.” The polls are snapshots. “And that is why we will do everything we can to ensure that these figures change.” Mast: “Of course there is still a lot to do in the election campaign.”
At the same time, Mast made it clear that “the numbers in Thuringia irritate me in the sense that a committed Prime Minister like Bodo Ramelow currently has worse poll ratings than BSW.” Mast: “But that can also change by election day. Elections are decided in the final stretch and not today.”
Elections will be held in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia in September. According to the latest polls, the SPD would receive 6 percent in Saxony and 19 percent in Brandenburg, with the popular Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke at the helm of the election campaign. The figures in Brandenburg are also a credit to the state government, said Mast.