In the final stretch of the election campaign in Brandenburg, the campaign organization Campact is supporting certain state parliament candidates from the SPD, the Greens and the Free Voters in 27 constituencies and is investing a total of 175,000 euros in this. With its first vote campaign, the initiative wants to try to prevent the AfD from blocking the state parliament after the elections on September 22nd, Campact announced. The organization has also already launched a campaign against the AfD for the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia.
Support for Green candidate in the contested Potsdam constituency
In the hotly contested Potsdam I constituency, the organization supports the Green Party’s direct candidate Marie Schäffer. In 2019, she surprisingly won the mandate with the most first votes – ahead of her then SPD competitor Klara Geywitz. This time, Schäffer is running against the SPD direct candidate Manja Schüle, Brandenburg’s Minister of Science and Culture, who criticized Campact’s interference in the election campaign.
In addition to sending emails to supporters, Campact plans to put the recommendation to vote for Schäffer in the mailboxes of 61,000 households in the constituency, the organization announced. According to Campact, the costs are around 50,000 euros. In addition, there will be a donation to Schäffer of 25,000 euros.
Campact: Prevent AfD blocking minority
By supporting the Green direct candidate in Potsdam, the organization wants to increase the ailing party’s chances of entering the state parliament. Campact sees this as an opportunity to prevent a blocking minority for the AfD. This is because parties can enter the state parliament as a group through the so-called basic mandate clause if they fail to reach the five percent hurdle but achieve at least one direct mandate. In response to the Campact campaign, SPD direct candidate Schüle wrote in a message to her campaign supporters that the AfD is much weaker in Brandenburg than in Thuringia, and that the Greens could make it into the state parliament via the second vote. “And I also find it highly problematic in terms of democratic theory that a campaign platform with a lot of money is interfering in the election campaign in this way.”
Voting recommendation for 25 SPD candidates – including Woidke
In addition, Campact is making further recommendations for the first vote in 26 constituencies for the candidates they consider most likely to be opponents of the AfD, which is suspected of being right-wing extremist in Brandenburg. This is intended to prevent the AfD from winning a large number of direct mandates and thus also gaining overhang mandates in parliament.
Campact supports SPD candidates in 25 constituencies and the BVB/Free Voters in one constituency – here the state parliament member Péter Vida. He won the direct mandate in his constituency in Barnim in 2019. The financial support for the candidates amounts to 4,000 euros per constituency. The Brandenburg SPD thus receives a total of 100,000 euros.
A recommendation for the first vote is made for the direct candidate and SPD Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (Spree-Neiße I constituency). In Ostprignitz-Ruppin, the Social Democrat Ulrike Liedtke, who is President of the State Parliament, is supported, as is Daniel Keller, SPD parliamentary group leader, in Potsdam constituency II.
According to Campact, the money comes from the organization’s supporters. In Brandenburg, that’s around 80,000 people. The actions were also discussed with the parties beforehand. The nationwide campaign organization Campact raised a total of 16.1 million euros last year – the majority of which came from donations and grants, as stated in the organization’s 2023 transparency report.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240913-930-231653/2
This is a message directly from the dpa news channel.
