Germany is expected to stay up late tonight with its eyes on the Thuringia ballot box, fearful of the possibility that Monday will dawn in the federal state with the most extreme far-right government. All scenarios are possible.
Far-right Holocaust denier
Although he has repeatedly sat in the dock for using banned Nazi slogans, the far-right Holocaust denier, co-founder and lead candidate of Thuringia’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) Bjorn Hekewas not disqualified in today’s crucial state election, where opinion polls show his party with a clear seven-point lead. In a semi-announced reversal of history in this former East German state, the 52-year-old history professor is not ruled out to occupy the prime ministerial slot.
Experts identify in Heke’s rhetoric “fascism, racism, historical revisionism and anti-Semitism, as well as the ideas and language of National Socialism”, while for the last four years it has been monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). His curriculum vitae (studying law, sports science, history and school administration, a stint as a teacher, one marriage, four children) did not betray the rapid development he would have in the ranks of the German Far Right.
In 2019, photos were released of Hecke from the trip he had taken four years earlier with party members to pay homage to sites associated with Hitler
In Hecke’s ideological formation (in 2010 he demonstrated with neo-Nazis, insisting on defining himself as a “representative of the concepts of the New Right”), accounts of his refugee grandfather, from East Prussia, about his life-long encounter with Adolf Hitlerwhich literally marked the grandson. His nationally conservative, anti-communist, teacher father with a permanent subscription to anti-Semitic magazines also made a catalytic contribution to his upbringing.
In April 2013, Hecke co-founded the Thuringia AfD, which he initially took issue with for its neo-Nazi leanings. For a number of years, the “tough” AfD was elected as its representative and leading candidate in the federal elections. In 2019, photos were released of the trip he had taken four years earlier with party members to pay homage to sites associated with Hitler.
AfD officials called for his exclusion (it had happened before) but the Thuringia branch rejected the proposal. In the same year, the party received 23.4% in the federal state elections, making Heke the leader of the opposition in the local parliament.
If the polls for today’s election are confirmed, even a strong majority for the party – showing momentum up to 34% – will not be enough for Heke to take over as prime minister, since none of the other parties are willing to cooperate with him. There is also the scenario that the party wins the election, but Hecke, head of its list, does not enter parliament because of Germany’s complicated electoral system, under which some MPs are elected directly and some from a list.
The seizure of power in Thuringia by the AfD can become a reality, without a coalition with the Christian Democrats, only if the far-right party secures more than 40% and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens break the “barrier” of 5 % – votes below 5% are not counted.
“Society Restructuring” Plan
What will Hecke’s “societal restructuring plan” be implemented in the event that the nightmare comes true and the AfD governs Thuringia?
He has given the answers quickly at the party conference in Pfiefelbach, on November 17, 2023: a lawsuit against the federal government for its refugee policy with consequent deportations, stoppage of funding for the programs “for democracy, diversity and the fight against right-wing extremism” ”, restructuring of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution of Thuringia and termination of policies for the protection of the environment.
AfD claims power, Berlin warns
In today’s elections in Saxony and on September 22 in Brandenburg, both former East German states, there is a risk that the AfD will prevail. In Saxony, the far-right party will fight for the lead with the Christian Democrats, who lead by just 1.5 points and are accused by the Left, the Social Democrats and the Greens of “breaking down the ‘firewall'” through joint votes with the AfD in local parliament”. Zara Wagenknecht’s new party, Logic and Justice, remains an unstable factor and possible regulator of the result.
If the AfD, after seizing power alone or with partnerships in one or more of the three states, violates “the values of the Basic Law”, as Hecke announced in Thuringia, “the federal government must not stand idly by”. argues the constitutionalist Franz Mayer, referring to article 28 of the Basic Law, the so-called “requirement of homogeneity” which establishes “the basic rights and constitutional principles of the rule of law and democracy which must also be applied to the states”.
There is also “federal coercion”, according to Article 37 of the Basic Law, which “could even lead to the removal of a local government from the federal one and its replacement by a federal commissioner”.
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