Berlin
AfD candidate in custody makes further gains in federal election
Is suspected of right-wing terrorism and is still gaining votes: AfD politician Birgit Malsack-Winkemann. photo
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
Parties are not allowed to nominate new candidates in repeat elections. Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, who is suspected of right-wing terrorism, formally stood again for the AfD.
In December 2022, like numerous other suspects, she was arrested in a major raid. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office accuses her of membership and support of a (right-wing) terrorist organization. She has admitted some of the allegations, but denies that the group has a terrorist aim.
She received a total of 9,277 votes in the partial repeat election. The result is made up of the repeat election votes cast on Sunday and those from the original election on September 26, 2021 in electoral districts with still valid results. Malsack-Winkemann was on the ballot again because parties are not allowed to put forward new candidates in a repeat election.
The AfD as a party also made slight gains in Steglitz-Zehlendorf. She received 10,036 second votes. This corresponds to 5.9 percent and is also an increase of 0.2 percentage points. CDU politician Thomas Heilmann once again won the direct mandate for the constituency. In the overall result of the first votes, it increased by 0.6 points to 28.6 percent compared to 2021, as can be seen from the state election authority’s website.