Presidential scandal: CDU man Otte does not rule out AfD candidacy – Ziemiak hits him in the face
Created: 01/25/2022, 02:18 p.m
By: Florian Naumann
Max Otte, Federal Chairman of the Union of Values © Imago
The AfD wants to put up a candidate in the federal presidential election: Max Otte, CDU politician and head of the Union of Values.
The CDU now reacts clearly.
Update from January 25, 1:10 p.m .:
“We call for Dr.
Otte to leave the CDU”: These words were just uttered by General Secretary Paul Ziemiak at a press conference.
The AfD had previously announced that it wanted to nominate the CDU man Max Otte for the office of Federal President
(see update from January 25, 11.40 a.m.).
"Anyone who, as a Christian Democrat, is even considering having the AfD elect them to the highest office in the state is violating the values of the CDU and has no place in our party," Ziemiak continued.
Otte violates decisions.
The designated general secretary, Mario Czaja, emphasized that it was not the first time that Otte had violated the party's regulations or taken them to the limits.
Further steps would be discussed in the evening in the federal executive board.
Otte should comment on his further plan by 5:30 p.m. whether he will accept the nomination.
"We're not ready for any games," Ziemiak added.
Otte is causing damage to the party by doing this.
"After all the impression that one can get, it is deliberately so."
AfD wants to nominate CDU man Otte for the office of Federal President
Update from January 25, 11:40 a.m .:
Now it is official: The AfD wants to nominate a CDU man for the office of Federal President.
AfD Vice Stephan Brandner confirmed this.
The result in a switch from the federal executive board and state heads the previous evening was clear, said Brandner on Tuesday in Berlin.
He spoke of a very clear commitment to Otte.
A politician has been found who enjoys a "good reputation in public".
When asked if Otte had already agreed, Brandner said he had not spoken to him personally.
"But as far as I know, he is still on fire as our candidate for the Federal President."
There are now also reactions from the Union: The head of the Union faction announced a party exclusion procedure in the event of Otte's candidacy.
"A candidacy for another party, especially in this case for the AfD, would be absolutely out of the question," said the parliamentary manager of the Union faction in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei (CDU).
Such a candidacy would violate all rules and "would clearly be behavior damaging to the party, which would necessarily lead to an exclusion," he added.
"Enough is enough," said the Baden-Württemberg CDU faction leader Manuel Hagel.
Presidential scandal: AfD wants to nominate head of the union of values - even Maassen is taking consequences
First report from January 25:
Berlin – The re-election of Frank-Walter Steinmeier as Federal President is considered certain – but a hopeless candidate nomination by the AfD * could now fuel an internal dispute in the CDU *.
Because the right-wing populists want to send a Christian Democrat into the race*.
Namely the head of the right-wing Union of Values, Max Otte, which is also repeatedly viewed with suspicion within the CDU.
He doesn't rule out a candidacy.
AfD wants to nominate a CDU member as a candidate for the Federal President - the head of the Union of Values does not rule it out
"Being offered the candidacy for Federal President is one of the greatest honors that can happen to you," said the CDU politician to the dpa when asked whether he would run for the AfD.
“The office offers the chance to heal, to reconcile, to admonish.
I consult with my family and think about it intensively.”
According to reports by
Spiegel
and
Zeit Online
, the AfD had previously nominated Otte as a candidate for the office of Federal President.
In a joint conference call between the federal executive board and the state heads, a majority decided in favor of Otte,
Spiegel
reported .
The AfD initially did not comment on the reports on Tuesday morning when asked, but announced a press conference for the afternoon.
Criticism was not long in coming.
Presidential election: AfD scandal – Green tease, Maassen leaves the union of values
The Green parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann immediately targeted the newly elected CDU leader Friedrich Merz.
"Values, attitude and a clear compass for our vibrant democracy are absent from the union of values," she tweeted: "And now the CDU
and Friedrich Merz"?
Party colleague Irene Mihalic asked the Union of Values itself how long they wanted to "passively watch" how Otte or Hans-Georg Maassen "would like to ally the Union with the AfD's enemies of the constitution".
But there are also crunches within the party.
Former CDU General Secretary Ruprecht Polenz - most recently known for more liberal positions and a massive presence on Twitter - called for the short message service to declare membership in the Union incompatible with that in the Union of Values.
Even Maassen drew consequences: According to his own statements, he left the union of values.
"For me it is completely unacceptable that the head of the Union of Values can be nominated by the AfD as a candidate for the office of Federal President and the Board of the Union of Values tolerates that," he wrote in the right-wing short message platform Gettr.
Maassen argued that the work of the Union of Values was being “discredited”.
Union of Values: Trouble for the CDU again and again
The Union of Values, which claims to have around 4,000 members, sees itself as representing the conservative current in the Union, but is not an official party structure.
Internal critics have long accused Otte of wanting to move the union of values to the right and open it to the AfD.
Otte announced in an interview in 2017 that he wanted to vote for the AfD in the federal elections - also because of Chancellor Angela Merkel's (CDU) course.
Until January 2021, the fund manager was chairman of the board of trustees of the AfD-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation.
Otte has practically no chance of becoming President.
Incumbent Frank-Walter Steinmeier is running for a further five years with the support of the governing parties and the Union.
A good two weeks ago, the left had nominated the Mainz social doctor Gerhard Trabert as another candidate.
Presidential election: How does the choice of the head of state work?
The Federal Assembly* convenes on February 13 to elect the Federal President.
It will have 1,472 members - the 736 members of the Bundestag and an equal number of people who send the 16 state parliaments.
With the votes from the SPD, Greens, FDP and CDU/CSU, Steinmeier can almost certainly count on re-election.
more on the subject
Linke nominated social physician Trabert against Steinmeier
Steinmeier's future well decided - Greens make a decision
Steinmeier can count on re-election
Opposition parties have repeatedly entered their own candidates in the race for the highest office, even if this was hopeless.
However, plans by the free voter boss Hubert Aiwanger to name a candidate may have failed, as the
Munich Merkur *
learned.
(
dpa/fn
) *
Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
.
