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Former Health Minister Ulla Schmidt criticizes the handling of her candidacy for vice-presidency of the Bundestag. The group’s 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 did not happen. It would also have seemed fair to me if my name had appeared on the ballot in the preliminary vote of the group’s executive committee. But only Dagmar Ziegler said, “said the SPD deputy.
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 Schmidt had withdrawn his candidacy after the first ballot at the parliamentary group meeting resulted in a stagnation of 66 to 66 votes. “I wanted to end the harrowing discussion,” Schmidt told SPIEGEL.
Schmidt countered the argument of the executive of the parliamentary group that Dagmar Ziegler represented the East as an East German at the head of the Bundestag: ‘I have always advocated that East Germans also be represented in important positions. But I don’t think the offices are the deciding factor in making people in the new federal states feel accepted and understood. “
