Lee Heidhues 9.25.2023
The extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has suffered a blow at the polls.
AfD was widely predicted to capture a Mayor’s seat in the city of Nordhausen, with its population of around 42,000. It is located near the former concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora, a part of the larger Buchenwald complex. In Mittelbau-Dora, slave labor was used to build V-2 rockets, with about one out of three workers dying.
Instead, the incumbent Mayor, a one time Green Party member now Independent, prevailed in a runoff vote and will serve another six years in office. While this is undoubtedly a victory for the anti right movement, there is no cause for celebration. The AfD is still polling at over 20 percent in German opinion polls. Currently, the AfD has 78 seats in the Germany national Bundestag. Nearly 11 percent of the seats.
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 9.25.2023
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has failed to unseat the incumbent mayor in a runoff election in the central industrial town of Nordhausen.
AfD candidate Joerg Prophet (in blue coat) was defeated by independent incumbent Kai Buchmann in a run-off vote that put the spotlight on the city of Nordhausen in the former East German state of Thuringia.
AfD candidate Jörg Prophet won 45.1% of the vote in Sunday’s local polls, while independent incumbent Kai Buchmann garnered 54.9%.
AfD candidate Prophet had raised eyebrows with his statements on Germany’s past, stating that Allies troops who liberated the Mittelbau-Dora camp were solely interested in information about rockets and missiles.
He has also urged an end to Germany’s “guilt cult” describing German attitudes towards the Holocaust.
The populist party has been mired in numerous controversies over their anti-migrant stance, with mainstream politicians warning of parallels between AfD ideology and the Nazis. Recently, a court in Thuringia decided that AfD regional leader Bjorn Höcke would face trial for allegedly using a banned Nazi slogan in a speech.
Prophet conceded defeat in a press statement referring to himself in the third person: “We have a new mayor. Mr Prophet has become the number two in this election.”
Prophet had been the clear favorite ahead of the polls. The 61-year-old entrepreneur won over 42% of the vote in the first round two weeks ago, with Buchmann securing only 23.7%.
Buchmann, an independent formerly associated with the Green party, had hoped to harness support from mainstream voters who view the AfD as right-wing extremists.
Germany’s established parties have united to keep the AfD out of power in the past, but the taboo against cooperating with them seems to be fading as the AfD’s popularity rises.
Reacting to the result, the management of the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial said voters had chosen to live in a cosmopolitan, diverse city that is aware of its historical responsibility.
“Nevertheless, the many votes for the AfD candidate, who is openly historical revisionist, show that the enlightened culture of remembrance is the basic consensus of our democracy is at acute risk,” said foundation director Jens-Christian Wagner.
https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-afd-loses-mayoral-race-in-nordhausen/a-66909129
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