Hessian SPD
SPD election video causes criticism – Faeser: “Not my style”
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had a controversial election video deleted. photo
© Britta Pedersen/dpa
The SPD Hesse warns in an election campaign advert about possible cooperation between the CDU and the AfD. The video is quickly deleted, but the criticism remains.
Almost a week before the Hessian state elections, a video from the Hessian SPD over the CDU and its top candidate Boris Rhein for excitement. The Hessian SPD top candidate Nancy Faeser had the video deleted, as she said on the sidelines of an election campaign event in Frankfurt am Main.
“That’s not my style. It’s been taken down,” said the Federal Interior Minister when journalists asked her about the video. The video portrayed cooperation between the CDU and AfD as possible and provoked outraged reactions.
In the same breath, Faeser made a demand to the CDU opponent, Prime Minister Rhein: “However, we have to talk about the matter. And it would be nice if Mr. Rhein commented on the fact that leading CDU people in Wetzlar met with the AfD recently. So it would be nice if he said something about it.” The election campaign spot discusses a joint vote between the CDU and AfD in Thuringia and asks: “Is there a threat of such cooperation soon in Hesse too? Will Boris Rhein get votes from right-wing extremists?”
The general secretary of the Hesse SPD, Christoph Degen, apologized for the video. “As general secretary of the Hessian SPD, I bear responsibility for this video and apologize to the CDU for it,” said Degen. “As Secretary General, I released the video, not the top candidate. Nancy Faeser has decided that the video will no longer be used.”
Reference to Erika Steinbach in the video
The almost 90-second video makes reference, among other things, to the former CDU politician Erika Steinbach, who has now joined the AfD and is chairwoman of an AfD-affiliated foundation. A picture of the controversial Wetzlar CDU politician Hans-Jürgen Irmer, who is considered a right-wing extremist in his party, is also shown. He had recently given up his remaining party positions early – the chairmanship of the CDU district association Lahn-Dill and the chairmanship of the CDU district council group.
“The CDU can no longer be relied upon when it comes to the AfD,” says a female voice at the end of the video. “We guarantee that Hesse remains free of right-wing politics.” The message then appears in large white and red letters: “No black-brown cooperation.” There are state elections in Hesse on October 8th.
The spot could no longer be seen on the SPD website. The Secretary General took the video down from the channel, said Faeser. When asked, she added: “I decided that today.” However, despite its deletion, the video circulated on X, formerly Twitter, and caused criticism there.
The CDU politician Armin Laschet, for example, wrote: The lesson from Weimar is that democrats must stand together against the danger from the right and not defame each other. The fact that Faeser and the SPD acted like this against “Walter Lübcke’s party” is humanly disappointing and unforgivable.
The Kassel district president and CDU politician Lübcke was shot by a right-wing extremist in 2019. The Federal Managing Director of the Green Party, Emily Büning, described the SPD video as “at least questionable”.