When the top candidates were invited to the podium before the 2018 state elections, there was usually a man in the TV studio for the AfD who did not stand for parliament in Bavaria at all: the then head of state Martin Sichert, member of the Bundestag. At that time, the AfD could not and did not want to agree on one person who would represent the entire party in the Free State. And if one of the list leaders in the districts had been sent on television – such as Franz Bergmüller from Upper Bavaria or Katrin Ebner-Steiner from Lower Bavaria – regional sensitivities would not only have flared up promptly. But also the traditional directional struggle in the AfD, one belonged to the more moderate camp, the other to the ethnic “wing”. And now in the 2023 election year? In all likelihood there will be no official number one again.
The current chairman of the Bayern-AfD Stephan Protschka, also from the Bundestag, would like a top candidate as a “face for the public”. At least that’s what he emphasized demonstratively at the last party conference in Greding, where the first campaign issues were discussed. Maybe he said that because he doesn’t want to play the emergency nail like 2018 Sichert, maybe worried about the public image. But certainly out of the bursting self-confidence with which Protschka has been appearing for some time. In an internal member’s letter for the new year, he fantasized about the AfD having to govern “in the medium term”. And that as a senior partner, not a junior partner. His “wishful thought” is therefore even “to nominate a prime ministerial candidate”. Incidentally, the letter dates before the BR24 Bayerntrend, in which the AfD achieved the highest polling value ever, 13 percent.
A conceivable top candidate would be: the leader of the parliamentary group in the state parliament, Ulrich Singer. The lawyer, 47, came to the helm in autumn 2021, initially in a duo with Christian Klingen. Since he left, he has been leading the state parliament troops alone. After all sorts of shifts, his more moderate camp is now without a majority, but Singer is holding up well. There is also currently a “civil peace” for the election campaign, as is asserted in faction circles. Publicly, Singer does not necessarily stand out as a drooler. Not everyone internally is happy with it, some would rather have a boss “who reaches out so that no more grass grows”. In a recent BR program on the Bayern trend, a person completely unfamiliar with state politics – without knowledge of the party programs – would probably have identified less Singer as a representative of the right-wing party in the group. But Free Voters boss Hubert Aiwanger, because he got into much sharper asylum debates.
A member party conference in April is to decide on the candidate question; so first about whether there is one this time. Question at the press conference on the AfD retreat last week: Mr. Singer, how are things looking? A top candidate is “not necessary”, said the person asked, he was “not a friend of it”. And there are many “faces” in the voting circles.
However, it is by no means surprising that Singer shies away from rushing ahead. There are three hurdles: First, the AfD likes to boast of being grassroots democratic, many members do not believe in dazzling exponents. The following applies: Whoever is supposedly leading today can already be assassinated tomorrow. Secondly, a candidate would have to come from among the list leaders of the seven districts. Their installation dates are still pending, Singer’s Swabian association is now leading the Völkische – perhaps the faction leader will not end up at the top of the list. And thirdly, there would be the always unpredictable party congress, where all dams could break in the camp struggle, truce or not. And if someone is elected with 52 percent, one hears in the AfD, that person is “immediately as one without backing” in the media. However, unlike in 2018, there is an advantage: a parliamentary group leader is legitimized even without such a choice, for example to appear on television for the entire AfD.