Even on election night Björn Höcke made a promise. It sounded cocky. Next time in Thuringia it will be the "absolute majority". It was a typical Höcke set. When Thuringia AfD boss it is often not a size smaller.
Höcke is still a long way off the absolute majority. Nevertheless, the 27th of October for the 47-year-old native West German is the biggest success of his political career so far: With 23.4 percent, the right wing of the AFD more than doubled the result of his national association five years ago. In the party-internal "wing", a right-wing network of nationalist and conservative Party members, Höcke has thus caught up with two other representatives who have recently outperformed in the provincial elections in the East: Andreas Kalbitz in Brandenburg with 23.5 percent and Jörg Urban in Saxony with 27, 5 percent.
State election Thuringia 2019
Preliminary final result
Second vote result
Shares in percent
CDU
21.8
-11.7
The left
31
+2.8
SPD
8.2
-4.2
AFD
23.4
+12.8
green
5.2
-0.5
FDP
5
+2.5
other
5.4
-1.7
allocation of seats
Total: 90
Majority: 46 seats
29
8th
5
5
21
22
The Left (29)
SPD (8)
Green (5)
FDP (5)
CDU (21)
AfD (22)
Source: Provincial Returning Officer
Results in detail
And that, although in a pre-election survey carried out by the ZDF political barometer Höcke was by far the most unpopular top candidate in the Free State. The voters of the AfD were apparently indifferent.
But what is Höcke starting with his success? Candidate for the Federal Executive for the first time and thus more involved in an organ of the Federal Party than before? Doubts are at least appropriate. Andreas Kalbitz has long been regarded as the really strong man in the "wing", and for two years now, the Brandenburg head of the AFD has been a federal executive. Unlike Höcke, who until today refrained from running for a federal office in the party, Kalbitz is considered a busy Strippenzieher.
Some in the AfD therefore suspect Höcke did not want to compete for the federal executive, because he feared that with an average result at the congress could get his image as a strong force in the AfD scratches.
Höcke will soon have to decide whether he wants to continue beyond the unofficial network "wings" in the official party structure. At the end of November, the AfD will meet in Braunschweig for the Federal Party Congress, where the top posts will be re-elected at regular intervals - including the entire federal executive committee. He himself was not involved in TV interviews in the Thuringian election night on clear statements, as he holds it with a candidacy for this body.
Höcke opponents in the AFD in a difficult position
Some in the AfD Federal Board, like the Federal Vice Georg Pazederski, are in a difficult position to Thuringia. The former Bundeswehr officer, chairman of the Berlin state association, has long been considered opponent Höckes. Now it should be even more difficult for him. In the Election Night of Thuringia Pazderski congratulated like Höcke and his colleagues "sincerely" to success.
But Pazderski said the SPIEGEL also a sentence that sounds ambiguous: He wished him a "skilled hand" in the interest of Germany and the further development of the party to the mouthpiece of "all commoners". When asked what the success Höckes meant for the federal executive, he added: "Like Björn Höcke, I believe that the election in Thuringia is no reason to speculate on the composition of the AFD federal executive."
RONALD WITTEK / EPA-EFE / REX
AfD politicians Kalbitz, Gauland, Höcke, Hampel and Pohl (on 27 October in Erfurt): "Höcke is the center of the party"
There are indications that the question is still not decided, which role Höcke could play in the leadership of the federal AfD - if he wanted. The parliamentary director of the AfD faction in the Berlin House of Representatives, Frank-Christian Hansel, for a long time one of the hottest critics Höckes tried the balancing act. He praised the success in Thuringia as strengthening the AFD "despite a domestic and externally controversial leading candidate". At the same time Hansel tried to decouple the cutting of the top candidate for a while. "This was not a personality choice that could be Björn Höcke as success of the 'wing' attached to the lapel," he wrote on his Facebook page. But do such objections matter at all?
Federal party conference end of November should be exciting
The fact that the "wing" has gained power - despite the smaller East German regional associations in the approximately 35,000-member Federal Party - is evident after the three parliamentary electoral successes in the East this year. Representatives of the "wing" are still not pushing to the highest office - that of the two federal spokesman. Kalbitz has ruled out a candidacy at the upcoming party congress.
Former Co-President Jörg Meuthen wants to continue, but whether Alexander Gauland again runs for the top in five weeks, has not yet decided. Gauland wants to keep open a candidacy for the highest party office until the last. Perhaps the 78-year-old will announce his decision only at the party conference in Braunschweig. As a successor to Gauland applies the Saxon AfD member of parliament and parliamentary vice-Tino Chrupalla. Chrupalla, an East German, is ready for a candidacy, as he recently publicized the first time in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", the SPIEGEL had reported on its internal opportunities in the summer.
Whether and how far Gauland would support a candidature Höckes for the Federal Executive, remains unclear. Gauland knows that Höcke could cause conflicts in the party. He, however, has repeatedly held his protective hand over him. He also did so during the election night in Thuringia and gave an interpretation, where he now locates the far right in the AFD. "Höcke does not move the party to the right, Mr. Höcke is the center of the party," he told the broadcaster "Phoenix".
Co-spokesman Meuthen explained in the election night on ZDF to the question of whether Höcke should compete for the federal executive, you would have to ask this yourself. However, Höckes candidacy, he added, "would be perfectly logical".