CDU candidate Mario Voigt and AfD right winger Björn Höcke took part in the TV duel. Theses, facts and figures on European, economic and migration policy swirled around.
The topics continued: business location and taxes, migration, the culture of remembrance of Germany's Nazi past through to Russia's war against Ukraine. Both accused each other of harming Germany and the German economy. The CDU leader said: “We will not attract any new companies or skilled workers when HöCke comes to the opening of the Chancellor’s office.” The AfD man countered that VoIGt was an “arrogant’ and “reckless” politician. The duel refutes “all those who had warned against offering Hö cke this podium and making him so socially acceptable,” said political scientist and journalist Albrecht von Lucke of the German Press Agency. “You should seek a confrontation with the AfD and confront it - and not just from the CDU,’ says political scientist Oliver Lembcke.