MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th November, 2019) Right-leaning conservatives among Chancellor Angela Merkel's fellow Christian Democrats in the German state of Thuringia have proposed talking to the far-right to prop them up in parliament.
The October 27 state elections saw the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) drop to the third place behind Alternative for Germany (AfD), which won almost a quarter of all votes.
Seventeen CDU functionaries wrote a letter to fellow conservatives, titled "Democracy Needs Dialogue," urging them to consider talking to parties that made it into parliament, Der Tagesspiegel daily said.
"Democrats must be able to discuss anything to explore options for building a stable government in Thuringia. A free society cannot shut out a quarter of voters from these talks," the letter read.
The message did not name AfD but used the same language as CDU lawmaker Michael Heym who proposed engaging the far-right last week, which prompted core conservatives to call for his expulsion.
The pro-Heym splinter group did not directly suggest forming a coalition with AfD. Heym's plan was to build a governing coalition of CDU and business-friendly Free Democrats that would be backed by AfD in parliament.
The Thuringian parliament has been dominated for years by The Left, which came first in last month's election with 31 percent of votes, but poor showing of their Social Democrat and Green allies means the three-way coalition cannot be reformed.
All parties in Germany continue to shun anti-migrant AfD despite its rise in popularity. The president of the German Jewish Council warned Thuringians that talking to the far-right would help them become more "socially acceptable."
