A Christian Democratic Union (CDU) state secretary in Saxony-Anhalt, Güler, has said she assumes CDU lawmakers cast votes for the AfD candidate for state parliament president, according to Deutschlandfunk. The vote in the Landtag was held by secret ballot, leaving open the question of which deputies helped the AfD candidate win.
Deutschlandfunk also reports that CDU leader Friedrich Merz considers it possible the outcome was a "false-flag" operation. The broadcaster's headline pairs Güler's assessment with Merz's remark, without stating that either claim has been confirmed.
The vote has triggered a wider dispute inside the CDU. According to DIE ZEIT, Radtke has called for party expulsion proceedings in the event that CDU deputies did vote for the AfD candidate. MDR.de framed the central question as whether CDU parliamentarians helped the AfD succeed in the secret ballot.
Separately, STERN.de reports that Julia Klöckner is pressing AfD Landtag president Rausch to give up a party office. WEB.DE, meanwhile, describes a moderate public style paired with radical positions, without naming the figure in its headline.
Because the ballot was secret, no verified account of how individual deputies voted has been established. The reports rest on statements by party figures and on the procedural fact of the secret vote.
What to watch next is whether the CDU confirms or rejects the claim that its lawmakers backed the AfD candidate, and whether any internal disciplinary steps follow.
