Höcke is the top candidate of the Thuringian AfD
Cancel the state media treaty, reform the protection of the constitution, no "fight against the right": AfD right-winger Björn Höcke has outlined in a speech how he would turn Thuringia upside down if elected head of government.
The 51-year-old was elected as the top candidate of the Thuringian AfD for the 2024 state election at a state election meeting in Pfiffelbach (Weimarer Land district). He received 187 yes votes, 26 no votes and two abstentions, giving him 87.79% of the vote. The Thuringian AfD is classified as proven right-wing extremist and monitored by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Höcke is the AfD state party and parliamentary group leader in Thuringia.
It is currently considered unlikely that the AfD will be able to achieve an absolute majority in the state elections in Thuringia on September 1, 2024. In addition, all parties currently represented in the state parliament categorically reject a coalition with the AfD. In recent polls, the AfD was in first place in Thuringia ahead of the Left and the CDU - with ratings between 32 and 34 percent.
Höcke renews government claim
Höcke renewed his claim to government. The "question of power" will be posed in Thuringia in 2024. In his speech, he formulated what it would mean if he were to come to power with his Thuringian AfD. "There will be no more compulsory contributions under any circumstances," Höcke told around 240 AfD members. He made it clear that he would terminate state media contracts for public broadcasting. He pleaded for a basic service - "perhaps ten percent of what we have now", as he said.
Thuringia's 2022 report on the protection of the constitution states that the Thuringian AfD state association has been advocating positions "that are directed against human dignity, democracy and the rule of law" for years. There has been no political moderation. According to the domestic intelligence service, the "anti-constitutional positions", which are directed against the free democratic basic order, are "the dominant and largely undisputed political ideology within the state association".
Höcke emphasized that he would reform the domestic intelligence service if he were in government. He demanded that it should focus more on industrial espionage. He repeatedly spoke of the fact that we have been living "in a reign of injustice" for years. There is a "permanent coup from above".
As he has done for years, Höcke called for a "deportation offensive" and a "family offensive". He also wanted to push back the "ideological state", he said. As head of government, he would end the "fight against the right". Höcke said about the time of the coronavirus pandemic: "That was indeed a totalitarian state that was revealed."
"Monitor" was denied access in advance
The AfD's decision to deny a team from the ARD political magazine "Monitor" access to the event caused a stir before the party conference. The public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), which is responsible for the magazine, took legal action against the decision. "Monitor" director Georg Restle had criticized the party's decision as an "oath of revelation by an extreme right-wing AfD state association, which shows what the party thinks of critical journalism and freedom of opinion in this country".
After a legal back and forth, the Erfurt district court ruled in favor of the "Monitor" journalists. The AfD had to grant them access on Friday, while Thuringia's AfD state spokesperson Stefan Möller announced that he would take further legal action. "This is not the end of the story", he said. "We would like to have the question of whether or not you have the right of access clarified."
The decision of the AfD to deny access to their event for the ARD political magazine "Monitor," led by Georg Restle, was criticized as an "oath of silence by an extreme right-wing AfD state association that reveals their views on critical journalism and freedom of opinion." Despite this, the Erfurt district court later ruled in favor of the "Monitor" journalists, granting them access to the event.
Additionally, Björn Höcke, the top candidate of the Thuringian AfD, emphasized in his speech that if he were to come to power, he would end the "fight against the right" and would be closely monitored by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution due to the Thuringian AfD's classification as a proven right-wing extremist party.
Source: www.dpa.com
