New survey results from Thuringia have further fueled the debate about coalitions with the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) coalition. The Federal Government’s Eastern Commissioner, Carsten Schneider, did not rule out a coalition with the BSW for the SPD on Tuesday after the Eastern Minister Presidents’ Conference in Wittenberg. “We are ruling out a coalition, that is the AfD. And otherwise we will try to become as strong as possible and to form a governing majority for the state in Thuringia,” he said at a press conference that was also attended by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). Schneider himself comes from Thuringia.
Scholz merely stressed that an alliance with the BSW at the federal level was out of the question for him. “The policy that is being proposed for the federal government is the opposite of what is right. It leads backwards and it will isolate our country, destabilize it economically and endanger the security of our country.” He did not comment explicitly on coalitions with the BSW at the state level.
According to a survey published on Tuesday by the opinion research institute Infratest dimap on behalf of the MDR for the Thuringia state election on September 1, the AfD is clearly in first place with 28 percent and together with the BSW (21 percent) would receive almost half of the votes. The CDU (23), SPD (7) and Left (11) together only have 41 percent, and the Greens and FDP would no longer be represented in the state parliament at all.
Since all other parties, including the BSW, have so far ruled out an alliance with the AfD, such a result would currently mean that only a government could be formed with the participation of the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) coalition. The CDU has not ruled out such an alliance either.
