Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Wojtke (SPD) plans to start preliminary talks to form a coalition government with the Christian Democratic Union parties after Sunday's Landtag (regional parliament) elections. (CDU) and "Sara Wagenknecht Union - for reason and justice" (BSW).
My goal is to form a stable government, Wojtke said at a press conference in Berlin. His words were quoted by agency DPA. At the same time, the politician noted that BSW's statements about the conflict in Ukraine and the deployment of American missiles on the territory of Germany did not play a decisive role. Previously, BSW leader Sarah Wagenknecht repeatedly spoke out against the deployment of long-range US missiles in Germany, the supply of weapons to Kiev and anti-Russian sanctions.
Woidke pointed out that the high result of the right-wing party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD) - around 29%, is a "headache", also considering the party's strength in the regional parliament. That remains a huge problem, he says. The Social Democrats must achieve more, including with regard to the younger generation. “Unfortunately, we are still not at the same level as the populists when it comes to social networks”, he concluded.
Wojtke intends to present his proposals to the SPD leadership on the evening of September 23. The 62-year-old Vojtke has led the region for more than 10 years.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) won the provincial election in Brandenburg, winning 30.9% of the vote. Second place went to Alternative for Germany, trailing the Social Democrats by only 1.7 percentage points. 29.2% of voters voted for the AfD. In third place is Sarah Wagenknecht's Alliance for Reason and Justice, which was created earlier this year. (BSW). He received 13.5% of the vote. In fourth place is the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with 12.1%. The Greens, members of the ruling coalition in Germany, and the Free Democrats (FDP) did not break the five percent barrier and did not enter the state parliament.
We are now facing the difficult process of forming a new regional coalition. All parties categorically ruled out any possibility of cooperation at all levels with the AfD. Brandenburg Branch of "Alternatives for Germany" Since mid-June 2020, he has been under the surveillance of the Department for the Protection of the Constitution (Counterintelligence) due to suspicions of “right-wing extremist aspirations”. Local observers call it a worrying signal for traditional parties that, as statistics show, voters aged 16 to 24 voted more actively for the AfD than for other political forces.