Saxony: SPD and BSW ready to explore government coalition with CDU

The SPD and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) in Saxony are ready to explore a possible governing coalition with the CDU. The SPD state executive committee in Dresden approved a recommendation by the five-member negotiating delegation. The party announced that 15 board members voted in favor of exploratory talks, with two votes against and two abstentions.

The vote was preceded by several so-called get-to-know-you talks between the potential partners. On the SPD side, the two party leaders Kathrin Michel and Henning Homann were joined by the two SPD members of the old government - Social Affairs Minister Petra Köpping and Economics Minister Martin Dulig - as well as parliamentary group leader Dirk Panter.

Köpping, who was the SPD's lead candidate in the state elections, expressed her appreciation for the way the two sides dealt with each other after the talks. "Everyone has made a visible effort to shape things together. We don't yet know whether this will end up being the case." Homann sees a majority government as the best solution for moving Saxony forward.

According to party chairwoman Sabine Zimmermann, the BSW state executive also spoke out in favor of exploratory talks. She had praised the constructive atmosphere after the end of the preliminary talks. Zimmermann considers the paper adopted by the CDU, BSW and SPD to be a good basis for further work. The CDU party executive will decide on the exploratory talks on Friday.

In the state elections on September 1, the CDU was the strongest party with 31.9% of the vote, ahead of the AfD (30.6%). As the CDU categorically rules out an alliance with the AfD, only an alliance between the CDU, BSW (11.8%) and SPD (7.3%) is an option for a majority government. A continuation of the old coalition of CDU, Greens (5.1 percent) and SPD is not enough.