The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) has announced it will abstain in all rounds of the election for minister-president in Saxony-Anhalt. The party says it wants to support neither the CDU nor the AfD. According to Tagesspiegel, this abstention could give the AfD a majority under certain circumstances, as only a simple majority of votes cast is needed in the third round.
However, the scenario is fraught with uncertainties. The BSW polled at just four percent recently, so it is unclear whether the party will even enter the state parliament. It also remains to be seen whether the AfD can maintain or expand its recent polling numbers of 41 to 42 percent, and which other parties will clear the five-percent hurdle.
Party founder Sahra Wagenknecht is instead promoting a so-called “Magdeburg Model.” She proposes a nonpartisan minister-president who would govern with shifting majorities. She did not say who that could be. Wagenknecht considers the other parties’ firewall against the AfD to be wrong.
Source: www.tagesspiegel.de
