In the upcoming state elections in the East, Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer (independent) suggests that the AfD will not appoint a prime minister. “I still believe that they will not come to power in the upcoming elections in the east – in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin,” he said in an interview with the Catholic News Agency (KNA) in Berlin.
What makes him so confident is that “eventually, despite all the anger and frustration over too many years of recession, people will ask themselves: Do I really want my country to slide racially to the right?” Or do I not want us to stay where we are?” Therefore, the center is also a party-political orientation, Weimer continued. “Staying in the middle also means moderation, remaining reasonable and tolerant, weighing everything and valuing compromise.”
In the elections in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, people also thought that the AfD would be stronger. “But at the end of the day, the people in the middle are clearly the majority,” Weimer says.
AfD leads in polls
Elections will take place in Saxony-Anhalt on September 6. Polls show the AfD has recently taken a significant lead over the CDU, which had 41 percent, with 23 percent. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where elections will be held on September 20, the AfD wins 36 percent, followed by the SPD with 29 percent.
The situation is different in Berlin, where elections will also be held on September 20. According to polls there, the left is currently in the lead with 20 percent. They are followed by the Greens (19), then the AfD (18). The CDU, the party of ruling mayor Kai Wegner, is currently only the fourth strongest party with 17 percent.