“Got into a tactical trap”: Lindner accuses AfD of unscrupulousness

Sunday February 9, 2020

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The election of FDP politician Kemmerich as prime minister in Thuringia triggers a political quake. After all, AfD votes were jointly responsible for the election victory. Liberal leader Lindner admits that he underestimated the right-wing populists and sees the move as a tactical move.

After the election and the later resignation of FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich to Thuringia’s prime minister, party leader Christian Lindner accused the AfD of unscrupulousness. “I, too, underestimated the AfD’s unscrupulousness in dealing with the highest state offices. I could not imagine that Höcke would only pretend to be a candidate to damage the FDP and CDU,” said Lindner of the “Bild” newspaper. Kemmerich had won the election in Thuringia only with the help of AfD votes and triggered a nationwide political quake.

Kemmerich resigned three days after taking office. If Lindner had known about the plans of the AfD, “I would of course have given Thomas Kemmerich the advice to do without the candidacy”. Lindner himself would have resigned as party chairman “if there had not been a clear demarcation from the AfD at all levels”.

In the case of the election, the AfD “acted purely tactically” and gave the impression that the FDP had something in common with it. “It is a serious injury for a liberal party,” stressed Lindner. “But the public equation between the FDP and the AfD is wrong, it only helps to play down the AfD.”

The “tactical trap” that the FDP, according to Lindner, had gotten into, could have an impact on the forthcoming elections in Hamburg. “We are now fighting unanimously to ensure that there continues to be a liberal voice in the citizenship,” the party leader says combative. Lindner said that his basic attitude had been clarified, mistakes made and consequences drawn. The compass is still intact. “We ask people for their trust and apologize for a serious mistake.”

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