State Parliament - Free Voters want to co-govern from 2026
The Free Voters aim to co-govern in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament after the 2026 election. "We are steadily at seven percent", said new Fraktion chairman Helge Schwab in an interview with the German Press Agency in Mainz. The Free Voters in Rhineland-Palatinate, like in Bavaria, are closer to the Union than the SPD, Schwab stated. "I am an absolute non-Green", he emphasized.
"I can imagine almost anything in the democratic spectrum," Schwab added, without mentioning extremist parties by name. The Free Voters do not work with extremist parties, right or left.
Schwab about Aiwanger: "We are all alpha creatures"
Helge Schwab has known the Federal Chairman of the Free Voters and Bavarian Economy Minister Hubert Aiwanger for almost 14 years. Aiwanger is a "brilliant speaker" and "real gutsy politician" who doesn't prepare his speeches. "He speaks the language of the people and sometimes even lets one slip." He has Aiwanger's phone number and is always reachable for him. But: "We are all alpha creatures", emphasized the soldier Schwab. "We fight in a unit for the same contents."
"The Free Voters are a daughter of the FWG (free voter communities)", said Schwab, who is the Landesvorsitzende of this association of over 15,000 members. There are currents in the FWG that have never wanted to be a party - and this was also his attitude for a long time. But with a view to financing, many have recognized that a party has advantages. "The goal is to be one thing someday", said Schwab about FWG and the FW. The first mergers already exist, for example, in the Eifel and in Kaiserslautern.
The Free Voters have six representatives, like the ruling party FDP
The Free Voters entered the Rhineland-Palatinate Landtag for the first time in 2021 and have - like the smallest ruling party FDP - six representatives. The former Fraktionschef and former Landrat Joachim Streit was elected to the EU parliament. His successor is Schwab. New in the faction is the former mayor of the Verbandsgemeinde Birkenfeld, Bernhard Alscher. The post of Parliamentary Business Manager (PGF) is taken over by Lisa-Marie Jeckel from Landesvorsitzend Stephan Wefelscheid, who actually wanted to follow Streit as Fraktionsspitze.
- In Bavaria, the Free Voters share a closer alignment with the Union rather than the SPD, as stated by their new Fraktion chairman, Helge Schwab.
- Schwab praised Hubert Aiwanger, the Federal Chairman of the Free Voters and Bavarian Economy Minister, as a "brilliant speaker" and a "real gutsy politician" with a knack for connecting with the people.
- Despite their close relationship, Schwab emphasized that they, as Free Voters, are all "alpha creatures," working as a unit towards shared goals, but not shying away from competition.
- Schwab acknowledged the origins of the Free Voters as a 'daughter' of the FWG (free voter communities), a organization with over 15,000 members, and noted the advantages of transitioning into a party for financing purposes.
- After entering the Rhineland-Palatinate State parliament for the first time in 2021, the Free Voters now have six representatives, just like the ruling party FDP.
- The leadership duo of the Free Voters in Rhineland-Palatinate, Schwab and Alscher, will work towards maintaining their presence and influence in the State parliament, potentially even aiming to co-govern after the 2026 election, like their counterparts in the AfD in other German states.
