Saxon CDU member of parliament Marco Wanderwitz will no longer be standing for re-election to the Bundestag in February. In an interview with the Chemnitz-based newspaper "Freie Presse", the 49-year-old justified his decision with increasing hostility towards him. "I have to protect my family and myself physically and mentally," said the CDU politician.
"The attacks by the brutal shouters have become increasingly violent. As a civil society, we have not managed to back up the MPs," lamented Wanderwitz. Hate and threats have been part of the political climate since the AfD entered parliament.
Advocate of an AfD ban
Wanderwitz has been a member of parliament since 2002. In the last legislative period, he was temporarily the Federal Government's Commissioner for Eastern Europe. Wanderwitz was most recently one of the initiators in favor of banning the AfD. The group collected more than 100 signatures from various parliamentary groups and submitted them to the Bundestag Presidium last week. In the 2021 Bundestag election, Wanderwitz lost his constituency Chemnitzer Umland - Erzgebirgskreis II to AfD candidate Mike Moncsek, but entered the Bundestag via the state list.
"I will be 50 next year, which is a good time for me to start something new in a self-determined way. I'm looking forward to it," lawyer Wanderwitz told the newspaper. However, he did not want to talk about what he plans to do after leaving politics, as that is now a private matter.
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