analysis
The political morning pint at Gillamoos in Abensberg, Lower Bavaria, is a must in Bavarian state politics – especially in the election year. Aiwanger and the leaflet affair dominate the debate.
Nobody can ignore one today: Hubert Aiwanger. The chairman of the Free Voters looks from numerous posters to the passers-by. The Weißbierstadel, in which he will perform today, is right at the entrance to the festival site. A loudspeaker is located directly at the entrance. The Free Voters turned up the volume.
Aiwanger dominates today. In the coming hours he will somehow be everywhere, wafting through the tents together with beer vapor and the smell of chicken.
Tone set for the final sprint of the election campaign
Gillamoos in Abensberg in Lower Bavaria has a long tradition. The folk festival has existed since 1313 and prefers to call itself the “fair”. And on Mondays, politics always comes to the festival tents, gets a stage and the opportunity to exchange blows.
Even in normal years, the Gillamoos is a guarantee for attention. This year he is all the more so – five weeks before the state elections and one day after Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder decided to hold on to his Vice Aiwanger despite the leaflet affair.
A burden for Söder
At 9.45 a.m., CSU boss Söder lined up for the pageant. The brass band is playing. He smiles and waves. Then he talks about his usual topics: the traffic light, the return to nuclear power, the financial equalization of the federal states, the obligation to gender. He doesn’t mention Aiwanger. The leaflet affair should no longer burden his election campaign.
The past week was not easy for Söder. There was great pressure from the federal government and from the opposition in Bavaria to clearly distance themselves from Aiwanger. This is no longer tenable and has damaged Bavaria’s reputation, so the attitude on the one hand. On the other hand, the allegations date back more than 35 years, not everything was and is proven – and a dismissal might have driven CSU supporters to the free voters. Söder decided yesterday to stick with his vice. It was the easier way.
However: He has connected his political future to a certain extent with Aiwanger. If he gets it wrong, Söder will have to listen to the question of whether he made the right decision. That’s why he must have followed Aiwanger’s performance today with particular attention.
Long line before Aiwanger’s speech
Aiwanger appears two tents away. Already in the morning, when most of the parties are still almost empty, there is a queue in front of the Weißbierstadl, a good hundred meters long. The affair surrounding the leaflet did not harm Aiwanger, at least among his supporters. On the contrary. A man with a T-shirt is standing at the entrance: “Stand by Aiwanger in need, otherwise our Bavarians will be dead.”
Inside, two women spontaneously opened a booth. Posters with the imprint “#Wirhaltenzam” are there. She has been a Hubert Aiwanger fan for 15 years, says one of the two women. He was too strong for the others, that’s why the allegations were made.
As if nothing had happened
In the past few days, Aiwanger had repeatedly staged himself as the victim of a campaign and a “witch hunt”. Repentance and humility had been neglected for some. And today? At 11:04 a.m., Aiwanger comes on stage and speaks as if nothing had happened. About the heating law, the self-determination law, projects “that normal citizens cannot understand,” he says.
An orderly immigration policy is needed. And earlier, if you found cockroaches in a bakery, the bakery would have been closed. “Now people say it’s good manners when there’s something in the bun.” Aiwanger claims that the free voters are the ones who still call it by its name.
It’s a typical Aiwanger speech. However, he seems to be holding back a bit today. No provocation like last year when he performed with Winnetou. No phrases like “Your ass is open”. No comments on the need for a silent majority to take back democracy.
And above all: No comment on the leaflet and the allegations of the past week. Aiwanger wants to get out of the line of fire and leave the issue behind.
Opposition attacks Aiwanger and Söder
There are two fronts that become visible at the political morning pint. Because the opposition is pushing the leaflet affair further. Although factual issues are pushed into the background, allegations against Aiwanger and Söder are made in every speech: SPD state chairman Florian von Brunn describes the Freie Wahler boss as a “right-wing populist ghost driver” who should no longer have his hands on the Bavarian steering wheel. For AfD top candidate Katrin Ebner-Steiner, Aiwanger is a “beer tent tiger who ends up on Söder’s arm as a cuddly kitten”.
Martin Hagen from the FDP called the leaflet “wicked” and the young Hubert Aiwanger “ideologically lost”. Greens top candidate Ludwig Hartmann states: “Söder and Aiwanger stand for everything, except for bourgeoisie and decency.”
Affair overrides others campaign issues
The Green supporters hoot at the end. They bang on the tables and stamp their feet. In less than three hours it became clear in Abensberg: The fronts have hardened. Between the government, which wants to close the issue, and the opposition, which is pushing it further. And in the population between Aiwanger supporters and opponents.
A woman sits at the edge of a table with the Greens. The atmosphere is so aggressive, she complains. And the insinuation that everything is a campaign: “That makes me sad.”
An elderly gentleman is sitting next to her. “I will vote for the Free Voters,” he says. The woman takes her bag and leaves.