Höcke-led AfD suffers defeat to party rivals in Thuringia.
In the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt region, an unusual scenario unfolded during the local elections: two rival AFDelectorates vied for support. In this case, the Hoecke faction must bear the brunt of the defeat at the polls.
Recent statistics from the Thuringian State Office show that, during the district elections in Thuringia, the AFDelectorate supported by the state leader Bjoern Hoecke, dubbed Alternative for the District (AfL), garnered fewer votes than the competing list, Alternative for Germany, which also ran in the district. AfD garnered a 19.4% share of the votes, whereas the list backed by the party outsider could only muster a 13.8% share. These figures were calculated based on results from 154 of the 163 voting districts in the region.
The two AFDelectorates in the district, home to around 100,000 inhabitants in southern Thuringia, are the result of a power struggle within the party that has persisted for months. Ultimately, this conflict led to the creation of two separate candidate lists for the local elections.
In October of the preceding year, a meeting of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district association drew up a list of 15 candidates for the county council election; Karlheinz Frosch, president of the Thuringian state parliament, took the top spot. The state party led by Hoecke, however, deemed the list insufficient due to the anticipated successful outcome, fearing that not all county council seats won would ultimately be filled. During the meeting, the closure of the candidate list after the 15th elected candidate reportedly led to chaotic scenes, according to MDR reports.
Legal Showdown
The dispute escalated on a legal front. Hoecke's supporters attempted to restructure the list on numerous occasions, only to fail in three appeals to Gera Regional Court. They sought a rerun of the election.
The state party also sought to expel sections of the district association, primarily centered around Frosch. A party expulsion process was initiated against a total of nine members over allegations of party-harming actions and one incident of electoral fraud.
The Hoecke camp within the district association was also forbidden by the state party from utilizing the AFDParty name and logo. Compliance failure would result in a lawsuit.
CDU Reaps the Rewards
In addition, a new list comprising party members was set up by the Hoecke supporters, known as "Alternative for the District". The campaign posters of Hoecke's followers featured him prominently, accompanied by the slogan "the real alternative." The AfD rebels in the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district retaliated by calling for Hoecke's expulsion from the party in the "Bild" newspaper. The rationale for this proposal: his support for the AfL.
Even after the election on Sunday, the intra-party conflict in Thuringia had far-reaching implications: Frosch, the AfD parliamentarian and top candidate for the district council election in Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, announced his immediate departure from the Hoecke faction in Erfurt and the party. His office confirmed this to ntv.de after being asked.
The CDU reaped the benefits of the AFDispute in the district. They emerged as the party with the highest vote share on Sunday, amassing 25.3% of the votes. If the two competing AFDelectorates had been combined, they would have clinched an improved result over the Christian Democrats.
Read also:
- Year of climate records: extreme is the new normal
- Precautionary arrests show Islamist terror threat
- UN vote urges Israel to ceasefire
- SPD rules out budget resolution before the end of the year
Despite Björn Höcke's leadership, the AfD faction in Thuringia's Local elections experienced a setback, with their rival list, Alternative for Germany, outperforming them. The Hoecke-led Alternative for the District (AfL) managed a 19.4% share of the votes, while the opposing list secured 13.8%. This polarized scenario in the district has opened opportunities for other parties, such as the CDU, which gained the highest vote share in the region, totalling 25.3%.
Source: www.ntv.de
