“Sonneberg, you have the choice!” – this appeal, which was circulated online at the weekend, does not come from a party or a civil rights movement, but from a confectionery manufacturer called Viba, based near Schmalkalden in Thuringia. About 100 kilometers southeast of it, in Sonneberg, the citizens will decide on the district administrator in a runoff election on Sunday. AfD and CDU candidates compete against each other, in the first ballot AfD man Robert Stuhlmann was ahead.
Sweet temptation
The nougat manufacturer Viba is now luring the people of Sonneberg with a sweet temptation by promising: “For every percentage point over 49% turnout there is a one percent discount on the Viba Classic nougat bar in the Sonneberg Viba branch on Monday”. And immediately names the maximum of co-determination and discount opportunities: “100% voter turnout = 51% discount.”
In the first ballot, the turnout was 49 percent, with AfD man Stuhlmann accounting for 46.7 percent of the vote. Jürgen Köpper came up with 35.7 percent. The Thuringian municipal constitution provides for run-off elections if no candidate reaches 50 percent. After the first ballot, the SPD, Left, Greens and FDP called for support for Köpper in the runoff.
Indirect warning of the AfD
While nougat company Viba refrains from calling for elections for the CDU and from an explicit warning of the AfD, it does so indirectly. In her ad, she evokes “diversity, togetherness, tolerance” and writes: “We are proud to produce in a democratic and cosmopolitan Thuringia.” And demands: “Eat nougat, not democracy.”
In a press release, Viba points out that “any radicalization and social division endangers one’s own corporate values and Thuringia as a business location in general”. Without Europe, without the euro, without immigration, without cosmopolitanism, without democracy, “Viba is not where it is today and its future would be uncertain”. The Thuringian AfD is considered particularly right-wing within its party. With her state and parliamentary group leader Björn Höcke, she is classified and observed by the state constitutional protection as a secured right-wing extremist effort.