Hubert Aiwanger, 52, still surprised everyone. When he stood for election as state chairman of the Free Voters in March 2006, hardly anyone knew him. His application speech lasts less than fifteen minutes. At the end of the day, the previously unknown farmer is the new boss. Even back then, members feared that their Free Voters could drift to the right under Aiwanger. The then CSU general secretary also said: “In my opinion, the man is radical.” The name of the CSU general: Markus Söder. Twelve years later, Söder will form a coalition with the FW – and make Aiwanger economics minister and his deputy as prime minister.
Hubert Aiwanger, born in 1971, comes from Rahstorf in Lower Bavaria. His family has a farm there and he is also a forest owner. Aiwanger still sees himself in the milieu of the “little people,” whose voice he has wanted to be since the beginning of his political career. After graduating from high school and doing military service, he first studied agriculture in Weihenstephan and earned a diploma as an agricultural engineer. His political rise does not initially go smoothly. In the 2002 local elections he wanted to be on the Rottenburg city council for the Free Voters – and failed. In the years that followed, he rose to become FW district chairman and finally to state chief.
Aiwanger turned a coalition of local politicians into a party and led the Free Voters into the state parliament in 2008. Removal of tuition fees, return to the nine-level high school, abolition of residents’ contributions to road construction – despite their role in the opposition, the FW always manages to push the CSU and push through their issues in the state parliament. In addition to the successes, there is always the reputation of the southpaw that accompanies Aiwanger.
The high or low point, depending on your point of view, is his speech last June at the Erdinger demonstration against the federal heating law planned. The “silent vast majority” must “take back democracy,” Aiwanger calls out to the people from the stage. The deputy prime minister, democratically elected, is outraged. And it gets bigger when SZ research reveals that Aiwanger had an anti-Semitic leaflet in his school bag as an eleventh grader. Aiwanger doesn’t want to remember whether he distributed it. His brother claims to have written it. For a few days, Aiwanger’s dismissal as minister is under discussion, primarily because of his unreasonable handling of the leaflet affair. In the end, Prime Minister Söder leaves him in office.
There is great outrage, but not among everyone. The polls suggest that neither the Erding speech nor the leaflet affair did him any harm. On the contrary. Aiwanger is euphorically celebrated at beer tent performances. He himself no longer makes any secret of the fact that he is wooing the AfD’s electorate by not ignoring their issues. Will his plan work? Both the Free Voters and the AfD in Bavaria have made gains in the polls.
Aiwanger’s election goal in December 2022 was to make the Free Voters the second strongest force in the state parliament. Some people thought that was pretty crazy, after all the party had ten percent in the polls at the time, the second-placed Greens had 18. Aiwanger is now no longer that far from his goal. The BR24 Bavaria trend saw the Free Voters at 17 percent in mid-September, second place, ahead of the Greens. Maybe Hubert Aiwanger can surprise everyone again.