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AfD parliamentary group leader in Baden-Württemberg, Bernd Gögel, AfD co-federal chief Jörg Meuthen: But not two-digit
Photo: Arnulf Hettrich / imago images / Arnulf Hettrich
The success report was premature.
Despite all the adversities, double-digit results were achieved in the state elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, said the Berlin AfD parliamentary group leader Georg Pazderki on Sunday evening.
The more votes were counted, the clearer it became: two-digit votes were not correct.
And that one has only "lost something", as the Baden-Württemberg AfD top candidate Bernd Gögel said at first, can hardly be said any more.
In Baden-Württemberg, the AfD slumped from 15.1 percent to 9.7 percent, ending up behind the SPD and FDP.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, the AfD also lost significantly and came to 8.3 percent.
Five years ago it was 12.6.
AfD co-boss Jörg Meuthen referred to the cause research that the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution had recently classified the entire party as a "suspected case" in the area of right-wing extremism in an internal communication.
Several media reported on this, including SPIEGEL.
The Cologne Administrative Court lifted the classification for the time being, but from Meuthen's point of view, voters now “associate” with the AfD “because of the wide coverage of the surveillance of the Constitutional Protection”.
Alice Weidel, AfD state chairman in Baden-Württemberg and party opponent Meuthen, expressed a similar opinion.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution was "completely unlawful" on the AfD and "put on the neck".
The protection of the constitution is to blame - at least on this all camps in the party agreed.
However, it is unclear whether the news of the observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution actually caused the loss of votes.
In the spring of 2019, the survey institute Insa surveyed that around 27 percent of AfD supporters no longer wanted to vote for the party in an overall observation.
So far there are no new figures from the survey institutes on this question.
On the other hand, it has been clearly proven since last Sunday that former AfD voters did not primarily turn to other parties, but simply no longer voted.
Since 2013, the AfD has largely owed its rise to non-voters.
In Baden-Württemberg, around 135,000 former AfD voters did not use their right to vote, in Rhineland-Palatinate 61,000.
Although there were also losses of votes to other parties, the AfD moved into both state parliaments without any problems.
This shows that the party now has a core electorate that is neither deterred by the fierce internal fighting nor the reports about the surveillance of the constitution protection - also in West German federal states.
The results are likely to fuel the internal party struggle between supporters for co-chief Meuthen and supporters of co-chief Tino Chrupalla, vice-chairman Weidel and honorary chairman Alexander Gauland.
The Meuthen camp wants to differentiate itself more strongly from the extreme right wing in the AfD.
Chrupalla and his colleagues, however, continue to see them as an integral part of the AfD.
In April, the party meets in Dresden for the federal party conference to adopt its election program.
Then there should be a dispute over the agenda.
So far, the election of a dual leadership has not been planned, the Meuthen camp had made sure of that.
Instead, there should be an online survey of party members by the end of March.
You should decide whether one or more top candidates for the federal election should be elected in a member survey instead of at the federal party congress.
Meuthen's internal party opponents flirt with a leadership duo Weidel and Chrupalla.
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A press release by Pazderski is representative of the dispute over the direction of the party.
Not only external factors have harmed the AfD, it says.
"We finally have to differentiate ourselves more clearly from the far right and are no longer allowed to provide a stage for the radical elements and positions." FDP and the Free Voters, and not the 0.5 percent milieu of NPD voters «.
Meuthen's opponents see it differently.
The parliamentary managing director of the Brandenburg AfD parliamentary group, Dennis Hohloch - once a close companion of the former AfD member and right wing winger Andreas Kalbitz - called the results of the state elections "sobering".
They clearly showed that the AfD's greatest potential lies with non-voters.
Right winger Björn Höcke also spoke up on Monday.
With its single-digit share of the vote in the West, the AfD “not only received a 'graze', but had to take a clear electoral defeat,” wrote Höcke in an essay.
The most important voter potential is the growing pool of non-voters.
"This clientele," claimed Höcke, "is in fundamental opposition to the prevailing politics and does not allow themselves to be brought to the ballot box with lukewarm, honest and adjusted positions."
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