The radical “wing” of the AfD in Bavaria is marching – the current makes up the majority in the state executive and in the parliamentary group, as well as most of the list leaders in the seven districts. And now the top candidate duo for the state elections: Katrin Ebner-Steiner and Martin Böhm were elected. Formally, the völkisch network around the AfD right-wing extremist Björn Höcke from Thuringia has dissolved, it is pointless to think about the extent to which the “wing” actually continues to exist in secret. Because the fact is: the trend has long since been absorbed by the party, and its exponents and attitude are already considered mainstream there.
As Böhm explained to the members, the two “faces” for the election campaign are “not fair-weather patriots”. That means: “Your anger speaks out of our mouths (…) You don’t let strangers penetrate your wives, nor do you let cutlers threaten your children”, these are “good, German virtues”. This is not a constructive contribution to the debate on migration, whose problems, such as crime, must be addressed honestly and demanded to be managed. Instead, it’s a sweeping “we” versus “they” – the Office for the Protection of the Constitution certifies that the “wing” is an “ethnically homogeneous concept of the people,” while disparaging minorities. You could also say racism.
Now it’s like this: The AfD will get its percentage in Bavaria, will collect frustration potential of all kinds, no matter who leads the troops in the election campaign. And by the way, also detached from the balance sheet in the state parliament. Riots and scandals, simple, half or supposed truths have largely been part of the group’s program since 2018, especially in its “wing” division. So everything speaks for a state election campaign to scare.
And yet the new duo could give the AfD a boost. Because how strong it is in October is probably solely due to the mood of the population towards migration. The Corona Theater of the AfD, the love greetings to Moscow or the day before yesterday’s image of society – all of this is more or less cultivated by the regular clientele. Immigration, on the other hand, can quickly become a mega-topic in conservative Bavaria. This was shown above all by the 2017 federal elections, when the AfD was successful in Bavaria and Ebner-Steiner brought in almost 20 percent in their Deggendorf constituency in Lower Bavaria. There she managed to stoke the mood of crisis and to sell simple messages with gaudy propaganda. At the moment, the CSU seems to be succeeding quite well in keeping the AfD small with an asylum policy based on “humanity and order”. Smaller than elsewhere in the republic.