The AfD is the big winner in East German cities and districts. Local politicians from the CDU, but also the SPD, are therefore urging that the extreme right should not be further excluded from local parliaments.
Matthias Grahl sees himself first and foremost as a representative of the people. “There are practically no fans of a firewall among the population here,” says the head of a metal construction company who heads the CDU district council group in Bautzen, Saxony. That is why the 53-year-old wants to continue to talk to each of his district council colleagues in the future, “regardless of which group he is in.” This applies to the AfD, which received more than a third of the votes in the district council election and was thus well ahead of the CDU, but also to the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance and to the Left.