Shortly before the state elections in Brandenburg, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned against the AfD becoming stronger. “It is very important that we manage to ensure that there is a positive orientation, that the Social Democratic Party and not the AfD becomes the strongest party in Brandenburg on Sunday,” said the SPD politician in front of around 200 guests at a public meeting in Niedergörsdorf in Brandenburg. “We need openness, cosmopolitanism, so that we can stabilize our economy.”
The Brandenburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the AfD as a suspected right-wing extremist case. In the ZDF Politbarometer Extra of the research group Wahlen on Thursday, the AfD with 28 percent is only just ahead of the SPD with 27 percent. In the election in Thuringia three weeks ago, the AfD became the strongest force, in Saxony it was behind the CDU.
Scholz appeals to voters
Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) wants to prevent the AfD from becoming the strongest force with an SPD election victory. Woidke had announced that he would resign from office if the SPD did not win the election. Given the low poll ratings for the SPD at the federal level, Woidke has largely avoided campaign appearances with Scholz.
The SPD chancellor called on people not to vote for the AfD. “It would be a necessary, correct signal from the citizens if they made it clear through their vote that the AfD is not the strongest party in the Brandenburg state parliament,” he said.
Scholz, however, was confident: “I believe that on the next election Sunday in Brandenburg, most people will have voted for the SPD.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240920-930-238735/1
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