AfD after Schleswig-Holstein election: mutual recriminations

For the first time, the AfD has been kicked out of a state parliament. The reasons are now being hotly debated within the party – the AfD’s ambivalent attitude towards Russia may have played a role.

The day after the Schleswig-Holstein election begins chaotically for AfD party spokesman Tino Chrupalla. The press conference scheduled for 10.15 a.m. is first postponed and then canceled because, according to the AfD, the top candidate could not appear on time. To the ARDinterview, AfD boss Chrupalla then comes with another candidate for the state parliament from Schleswig-Holstein. Volker Schnurrbusch, who comments on the result of the election: “It was just a personal election for the prime minister. And that’s why we lost voters.”

Chrupalla adds: “The program and people were perhaps not distinguishable in Schleswig-Holstein. The AfD must also be perceived as an alternative.” The AfD boss does not want to see a bad omen for the coming elections, for example next Sunday in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Failed at the five percent hurdle

The party failed in Schleswig-Holstein at the five percent hurdle and thus falls out of a state parliament for the first time. The reasons are now being discussed within the AfD. Yesterday, Schleswig-Holstein’s top candidate, Jörg Nobis, saw part of the responsibility at the federal AfD: “I would say that our clear position not to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine also hurt us. We were now said to be would understand Putin or be too pro-Russian.”

Federal spokesman Chrupalla contradicts this. According to surveys, the important issues were different: “That was education, that was energy security, this is also about inflation. Those were the main issues that played a role. International politics played a subordinate role.”

Debate about realignment

The dispute over how to deal with Russia and the position in the Ukraine war seems to continue to smolder. Overall, the poor election result is fueling the debate within the party about a realignment. So says Norbert Kleinwächter, AfD faction vice in the Bundestag, the editorial network Germany, the AfD has to sort itself out. New topics and a new style are needed to retain voters over the long term.

According to political scientist Wolfgang Schroeder, the ambivalent attitude of the AfD towards Russia is one of the reasons why the AfD is becoming less attractive in western federal states. “The Russian perspective still works in the East, it’s rather harmful in the West,” he says. “And since the state elections are taking place in the West this year, pro-Putin statements tend to be problematic in the West.”

downward spiral, especially in the west

All in all, Schroeder sees the current election result as a nationwide signal: in his view, the party’s downward spiral is particularly evident in the West. But at the same time you have to see that this is by no means the end of the AfD. “Because they continue to make a strong impression in the election campaign and in the election results, despite this poor line-up, despite the lack of top personnel, despite the non-existent topics that really ignite.”

Schroeder suspects that the AfD will make it back into the state parliament in North Rhine-Westphalia next Sunday, but with weaker results. There, according to current surveys, the AfD is at seven to eight percent.