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Ulla Schmidt: »I would have liked to talk to each other before making a decision«
Photo: Wolfgang Kumm / dpa
Former Health Minister Ulla Schmidt criticizes the handling of her candidacy for the office of Vice President of the Bundestag.
The group leader Rolf Mützenich did not urge her to withdraw.
"But I would have liked to talk to each other before making a decision," Schmidt said in an interview with SPIEGEL.
“That didn't happen.
I would also have thought it fair if my name had been on the ballot paper in the preliminary vote in the group's executive committee.
But it only said Dagmar Ziegler, «said the SPD MP.
Ziegler had been nominated by the SPD parliamentary group to succeed the late Bundestag Vice President Thomas Oppermann, and has since been elected by the Bundestag.
Schmidt withdrew her candidacy after the first ballot in the parliamentary group meeting had resulted in a stalemate of 66 to 66 votes.
"I wanted to end the nerve-wracking discussion," Schmidt told SPIEGEL.
Schmidt countered the argument of the parliamentary group executive that Dagmar Ziegler represented the East as an East German at the head of the Bundestag: »I have always campaigned for East Germans to be represented in important positions.
But I don't think that offices are the decisive factor for people in the new federal states to feel accepted and understood. "
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