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Multitudinous march in Berlin against anti-semitism and racism following the attack on a synagogue in The matches of the German Government to contain the rise of ultra in the East
The excellent result of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Sunday’s election in Thuringia has not broken from the moment the tight cordon sanitaire by the other parties reject any cooperation with the ultras. Yes he has uncovered, however, the box of thunder in Berlin, where regional elections reverberaron with thunderous force and oblige now to the parties to the political contortions unpublished result of the fragmentation and the rise of the far right, that managed the second position with 23.4% of the votes, behind The Left (Die Linke), which won with 31% of the supports.
The noise emanated with special intensity the headquarters of the CDU, the conservative party in the Government of Angela Merkel, where the bad result (by 21.8%, behind AfD) has unleashed the pressure against the party president and potential successor to the chancellor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. From which was elected a year ago, the party has not stopped chaining electoral losses. The third place in Thuringia, a Land of just two million inhabitants, which has been its stronghold for decades, has been only the last straw. But above all, because the arithmetic of electoral forces the CDU to take a momentous decision, which on Monday divided the party, contributing to the creation of a hopeless image of weakness.
The Christian Democratic Union, the CDU rejects any cooperation with the extreme right, but also with Die Linke, the party to the left of the social democracy, which he considered to be something like a continuation of the socialist regime of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). So it is in the resolution passed in the congress last December in Hamburg.
Die Linke won the Sunday slack elections in Thuringia and from the hand of Bodo Ramelow, a political pragmatist and very popular for its management in the last five years. This result, however, does not guarantee a majority Government, or even by re-editing a coalition with the social democrats (8.2 percent) and Green (5.2 per cent). That is to say, only would achieve majority government without the ultras if the conservatives agree to participate in an Executive with Die Linke. Would be in last instance, the option of a regional Government in a minority, an option not highly valued traditionally in Germany, considered as a source of instability.
in this context, the candidate of the defeated CDU in Thuringia, Mike Möhring, disobeyed the Monday, the guidelines of the party and he said he is open to talking with Die Linke. “The stability of the region is more important than the interests of party,” he said. “I don’t need to Berlin to know what is important for Thuringia”, he challenged. Shortly after, Möhring appeared next to the head of the party, Kramp-Karrenbauer (alias AKK), trying to calm the situation, but showing that the dilemma is maximum. Throughout the day, weights more or less heavy they positioned themselves in favour or against, to speak with the party of the left. If it is opened by the veda to the left, the lone voices calling for loosening the cordon sanitaire against the right threaten to become a force.
A raging river, the eternal critics of Merkel, tabloids included, took the opportunity to sow doubts about the ability of his successor to preside over the party and above all to be the next candidate for chancellor of Germany in 2024. AKK, which has, in addition to the portfolio of Defense and last week they showered criticism for her proposal to establish a zone under international control in Syria, came to the cloth during the press conference on Monday. “If someone thinks that this issue should be decided this fall, they have the opportunity to do so at the party congress,” he said in reference to the quote from the end of November, and criticisms veiled his authority.
“Mobbing systematic”
While the swords was brandished at the headquarters of the CDU, the extreme right is rubbing on the Monday the hands and savored his second place in Sunday’s election. With 23.4%, doubled his previous output and especially positioned the sector plus ultra of Alternative for Germany, in Thuringia has its maximum representative, Björn Höcke.
Höcke appeared Monday before the press, smiling. He accused the journalists to submit to a “mobbing systematic” and advocated a “patriotic solidarity” as one of the fundamental principles of his party. Höcke, who tried to flaunt moderation desdiciéndose some of his comments xenophobic and anti-semitic in the past, advances positions on Alternative for Germany, a party which threatens to radicalized even more.
Alexander Gauland, a co-leader national AfD, declined the most in the joint appearance: “Höcke does not move the party toward the right. Höcke is the center of the party.” At the end of November, the extreme right will hold a congress that will be key to measure the relationship of forces between the sides that coexist in the formation.
