Election campaign in East Germany: The hand of Höcke

Rejected: The right-hand man of the Thuringian AfD chairman Björn Höcke (Erfurt, 22.5.2026)

The pronouncements of the rival parties ahead of the elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are becoming increasingly bizarre. On Wednesday evening, Björn Höcke, a prominent figure in the AfD’s far-right wing and state chairman and parliamentary group leader in Thuringia, posted a two-minute video on social media platform X, in which he called on Sahra Wagenknecht, founder of the BSW (Citizens’ Initiative for Social Justice), to assume “political responsibility” in Thuringia. “Become Minister-President,” Höcke urged. “I extend my hand to you. Let us open a new chapter in the history of political parties in the Federal Republic of Germany.”

The video states that Wagenknecht is right in her assertion that the “firewall” policy has failed. However, in Thuringia, her party supports Minister-President Mario Voigt (CDU), “a man who has truly lost all credibility,” Höcke criticized. While Wagenknecht “quite often makes insightful comments on current events,” Höcke added that she “talks a lot from the sidelines” and should now demonstrate that the BSW in Thuringia is not a “cartel party.”

The BSW founder initially declined to comment publicly on Höcke’s remarks, but on Thursday she refused his hand in an interview with AFP and instead challenged him to a televised debate. This debate, she said, should be held “on neutral ground and with an impartial moderator.” This, she argued, would clarify “differences and commonalities between the BSW and the AfD.” Previously, BSW board member Klaus Ernst had dismissed the Thuringian politician’s proposal to the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper as “absolute nonsense” and a “cheap PR stunt.” Since its founding, the BSW has ruled out any cooperation with the AfD, “especially a joint government.” Ernst called the AfD “a party that is, in part, fascist and right-wing extremist.” The BSW currently governs in Thuringia in a coalition with the CDU and the SPD.

More uncomfortable for Wagenknecht and BSW co-chairs Fabio De Masi and Amira Mohamed Ali than Höcke’s provocation is likely the internal party resistance to any opening toward the AfD. “With their dangerous course, Wagenknecht, de Masi, and Mohamed Ali are crossing boundaries without any internal party discussion or democratic will-formation, and I am no longer willing to tolerate this,” criticized Thuringian BSW minister Steffen Schütz. Relations between the BSW federal leadership and the Thuringian state branch are considered tense.

Schütz was referring to Wagenknecht’s recent push for a “cross-party” minister-president in Saxony-Anhalt, who could effectively govern with a majority from the AfD and BSW. On Wednesday, she reaffirmed her proposal to Bild. Should the other parties reject it, the BSW would abstain in the third round of voting, meaning a relative majority would suffice for the AfD and its lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund to form a government.

At least bourgeois institutions now appear to be slowly catching on to the class character of the AfD. A study by the University of Tübingen, commissioned by the ARD magazine Panorama, has found—according to results published on Thursday—that while the far-right party was indeed voted for by many workers, it adheres to the market-liberal course of its founding years and has even sharpened it. The Tübingen researchers confirm: the AfD pursues a policy that diametrically opposes the interests of the working class.

Political scientist Floris Biskamp analyzed the party’s foundational manifesto as well as all federal and EU election programs since 2013 for this purpose. He cross-checked the results using other methods, including quantitative program analyses and an evaluation of party responses to the so-called Wahl-O-Mat questionnaire by the Federal Agency for Civic Education. The party has clearly positioned itself at the market-liberal end of the spectrum since its founding—roughly between the Union (CDU/CSU) and the FDP.

According to the analysis, at the 2025 federal election, it scored 92 percent on this scale. Only the FDP, with 100 percent, was further toward the market-radical pole. The CDU/CSU came in at 79 percent, the BSW at 29, the SPD and Greens at 25 each, and Die Linke at 8 percent. Nevertheless, Biskamp said, the AfD pursues a strategy of focusing on the “little people”—but for this, it has changed less its platform than its image.

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