A recent episode of the ARD talk show “Hart aber fair” focused on the outcome of the German federal election, with a particular emphasis on the AfD and how established parties should deal with it, especially in the eastern states where the party has achieved significant success.
During the discussion, the talk show’s moderator, Louis Klamroth, invited Liana Bach, the non-partisan mayor of the small town of Dillstädt in Thuringia, to share her views on the topic. Bach, who has been leading the town since 1994, expressed her support for a factual and constructive cooperation with the AfD. She attributed the reluctance of many politicians to engage with the AfD to a fear of being labeled as “right-wing” or “Nazi” which she believes is counterproductive and stigmatizes the ordinary citizens who support the party.
Bach argued that the refusal to cooperate with the AfD only leads to more polarization and that the party’s success in the eastern states is a result of the people’s desire for a more direct and honest representation in politics. According to Bach, the AfD’s official classification as “right-extreme” by the authorities does not deter the local population from supporting the party, as they know each other and are not swayed by external labels.
The AfD won a majority of the second votes in the Suhl electoral district, with a significant gap between it and the other parties, including the CDU and the Left.
Several politicians, including Wolfgang Schmidt, the head of the Chancellor’s Office, Philipp Amthor of the CDU, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann of the FDP and Andreas Audretsch of the Greens, were invited to the talk show to share their views on the topic. While some, like Audretsch, emphasized the need to firmly reject the AfD’s ideology and policies, others, like Schmidt, acknowledged the party’s popularity among certain segments of the population and the need to address the underlying issues that drive their support.