Far-right party sets new record numbers in West Germany: AfD leader Weidel comments for the first time on the ‘traumatizing’ anti-terror operation in her home in Einsiedeln SZ

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Satisfaction with top German politician Alice Weidel (44). The chairman of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), which was founded only ten years ago, “is the big winner in the state elections in Bavaria and Hesse.” The public broadcaster ZDF reported this late on Sunday.

In an interview, ZDF Weidel also spoke about the “excited mood” in the country and the “security warning” given to the politician at the end of September. It is “unacceptable that politicians are in danger,” said the moderator. Weidel responds that her family was “traumatized.”

Despite her success at the polls, the big election winner of the day doesn’t really feel like celebrating. Weidel lives with her family of four in Einsiedeln SZ. Due to a “security-related incident – ​​so because of a threat – she, her Swiss partner Sarah Bossard (41) and her two sons had to be taken to safety during a night-and-dagger operation on September 27. The Schwyz cantonal police confirmed the operation last week. For ‘investigative reasons’, no information is provided about the nature of the threat or the alleged perpetrator.

Traumatizing incident

Now Weidel is commenting on the incident for the first time – and speaking about the traumatization of her children. The moderator also suggested that Weidel may have simulated a security threat and misled his own party. “The fact is,” the AfD party leader explained with a steady look into the camera, “that 14 days ago my apartment and my family – we have two small children – were evacuated by an anti-terrorist unit and I to a safe environment. With two small children. You can imagine how traumatizing that was.”

Weidel “then decided, because of the traumatization of her children, to distance herself from these terrible events with my family and to process them with our children.” She couldn’t just keep campaigning. A performance in Bavaria in early October was cancelled.

Migration policy as an electoral factor

Now Weidel is back. The elections – also called the small federal elections in Germany because they are seen as a groundbreaking political vote test in the country – brought the far-right party in Hesse and Bavaria new record numbers in West Germany.

According to an election research analysis by “Bild”, migration decided the elections. This “ultimately overshadowed everything”. A political scientist says: “The AfD has stuck its finger in an open wound, namely the one in the federal government that has been criticized by many. And she was successful with it.”

Bavaria and Hesse speak clearly

The two important states spoke clearly on Sunday: in Bavaria, the historically dominant CSU is performing historically poorly. The AfD shifts political forces and becomes the second strongest party. In the last elections in 2018, the AfD won 10.2 percent, but now the right-wing populists have risen to around 16 percent in the Bavarian state parliament.

A similar picture in Hesse. The CDU of Prime Minister Boris Rhein (51) emerged as the clear winner of the elections and could continue to govern with the Greens as a coalition partner. The SPD around Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (53) as its top candidate experienced another debacle.

With Faeser, the SPD fell to a record low and again clearly undermined its worst result to date of 19.8 percent in the 2018 state elections. The election campaign was strongly influenced by the migration issue and therefore from outside, a disappointed Faeser told his supporters. That “helped no one except the AfD”.

Will AfD become the ruling party in 2024?

The AfD, which had 13.1 percent in Hesse five years ago, made clear gains and is likely to become the strongest opposition party in the new state parliament. AfD top candidate Robert Lambrou (56) offered the CDU to work in a coalition. His party is ‘ready’, he said on Sunday. Rhein ruled out cooperation on Sunday, just as in the election campaign.

“Realistically” there will be no cooperation in Bavaria, party leader Weidel said about ZDF – because of the so-called “firewall” policy of Prime Minister Markus Söders (56) CSU.

Weidel emphasized that the AfD was the strongest force in East Germany. After the elections next year in three eastern states, there will be “no escape” for the party. Weidel: “You have to involve the AfD in government participation.”

Source:Blick