After the clear election victory of his party in Saxony-Anhalt, the CDU chairman Armin Laschet underpinned the clear demarcation from the AfD.
"The CDU is the bulwark against extremism," said the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister after meetings of the CDU's top bodies on Monday in Berlin.
His party got more votes in the election on Sunday than the AfD and the Left together, the “clear edge” against the AfD was supported.
“The course of the middle will not be changed by a millimeter.” In the federal election campaign, the good result naturally brings a tailwind.
Laschet emphasized that, unlike in the previous election, the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt now has "several coalition options in the democratic center". This is a great success for Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU), who is also "a father in the best sense of the word". The CDU had gained significantly in the election on Sunday and, with 37.1 percent, was clearly the strongest force ahead of the AfD, increasing by 7.4 percentage points.
Reiner Haseloff (CDU) said he thought a similarly strong result for the Union in the federal election in September was possible. "37 percent plus x, as in Saxony-Anhalt, are possible if we march together." Before the election, the CDU had only seen between 25 and 30 percent of the polls, similar to the current situation in the federal government. "Armin Laschet is our candidate for Chancellor, with whom we will win and if we do it like in my election campaign, then we will also appoint the Chancellor," said Haseloff.
Haseloff justified his strong result, among other things, with the fact that the Union had been closed in recent weeks.
That was also shown in the election campaign appearances of Union politicians such as Friedrich Merz, Markus Söder and Armin Laschet in Saxony-Anhalt.
He also benefited from his clear demarcation from the AfD.
Surveys in which an election victory for the AfD seemed possible, mobilized many of his voters.
"It no longer has anything to do with how a coalition should work"
In the coalition dispute about how to deal with allegedly less checked corona protective masks, Laschet sharply rejected attacks by the SPD. This has "nothing to do with how a coalition should work," said the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister on Monday in Berlin after meetings of the top CDU bodies. The tone and the personal attacks on Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) on the part of the government partner are "humanly and factually unacceptable".
Laschet said it was inexplicable to him “how one can believe to have political success with it. That repels the people. ”Instead of the SPD, he would also ask himself after poor election results:“ Is it actually wise to be in a coalition and constantly talk down the successes of your own coalition? ”One expects a government in the pandemic that they can create solutions together. There is no need for a coalition committee for this, it is a question of insight. "We will not go into that tone."
The SPD leadership had previously made it clear that it would uphold demands for Spahn to resign. This had "to judge media reports and the representation from the Federal Ministry of Labor clearly tried in the past year to distribute masks that have not passed all the necessary tests to people who cannot defend themselves against these bad masks," said party leader Saskia Esken in Berlin. Spahn had rejected the allegations in the matter. The masks from China, which are at issue, have been verifiably checked. Although they do not have EU certification, they are safe in terms of infection protection./sam/bk/DP/men