Robert Stuhlmann in Sonneberg
The AfD has its first district administrator. Now she wants more
Björn Höcke (l), Chairman of the AfD Thuringia, and Tino Chrupalla, AfD Federal Chairman (r), congratulate the election winner of the Thuringian district of Sonneberg, Robert Stuhlmann (AfD, M)
© Martin Schutt / DPA
Thuringia’s AfD boss Björn Höcke had announced a quake, and now it has happened: With Robert Stuhlmann, Germany’s first AfD district administrator has been elected. Just a start for Höcke.
An elderly woman in Sonneberg said on the day of the district election that she was afraid that the AfD would one day come into power. Björn Höcke’s language and rhetoric reminded her of the National Socialists. A few hours later, it becomes clear that the party, which the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia classifies as definitely right-wing extremist, will win the district election in the small district on the border with Bavaria.
The lawyer and member of the state parliament Robert Stuhlmann becomes Germany’s first AfD district administrator, he prevailed in the runoff election against the CDU opponent Jürgen Köpper. The Left, SPD, Greens and FDP had previously forged a kind of alliance and called for Köppers to be elected in order to prevent an AfD district administrator – in vain.
Euphoria among AfD supporters
AfD supporters celebrated euphorically on Sunday in Sonneberg – with AfD country chief Björn Höcke and federal chairman Tino Chrupalla. “District Administrator Stuhlmann in Sonneberg. It’s awesome!” Shouted AfD district chief Falko Graf when the result was announced. At the AfD election party, Höcke said between blue balloons and German flags that a “political flash of lightning” emanated from Sonneberg.
Höcke had previously emphasized that he attaches great importance to local elections – on the way to participating in the government. Next year there will be state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg. So far, the AfD has been completely isolated politically at federal and state level. Höcke wants to break this isolation. One could “create a political earthquake” in East Germany in 2024, he said after Stuhlmann’s election.
Most recently, the AfD increased nationwide in polls, in Höcke’s state of Thuringia, for example, it was in first place in recent polls ahead of the left. So far, however, she has not been able to shape politics – at most indirectly, by helping the CDU and FDP to achieve majorities. Now an AfD man should control a district. In Thuringia of all places, where the AfD is particularly far to the right. On the evening of the election, Stuhlmann announced that he would be resigning from his seat in the state parliament and wanting to take care of the district’s budget first. He also wants to approach political opponents. He now sees his party on the way to becoming a People’s Party.
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The district of Sonneberg is one of the smallest in Germany, and a Franconian dialect is spoken. Most recently, the region caused a stir politically when ex-President for the Protection of the Constitution Hans-Georg Maassen (CDU) ran for the federal elections – and lost to his SPD competitor. In Thuringia, the district is considered an economically strong region, the unemployment rate is below the national average.
“I don’t think he can change much as a district administrator,” said the elderly woman on the market square in Sonneberg before the election results were announced. “But I’m afraid if they keep growing and come into government.”
Stuhlmann also won the election with demands that he will never be able to enforce as district administrator – for example to get out of the euro currency union. According to three young men who were out and about in the town of Sonneberg on election day, the AfD is so strong in their district because people are dissatisfied with federal politics. “But that doesn’t solve any problems in a democracy,” complains one.
Election victory with “symbolic value of nationwide importance”
According to the Magdeburg extremism researcher Matthias Quent, Stuhlmann’s election victory has “a symbolic value of nationwide importance,” as he told the editorial network Germany (RND). “The real design options of a district administrator in a district with 54,000 inhabitants are limited, but this election victory gives the AfD a central position for attacking state and federal politics.”
In addition, the outcome of the election was a confirmation of Höcke’s “extreme right radicalization course”. The expert even considers it possible that the AfD election success could be the starting point for “normalizing and legitimizing cooperation between AfD and CDU”.