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Free Voters leader Aiwanger: “Then we’ll be set on fire across Germany.”

Photo: Harald Tittel/dpa

The Free Voters around Hubert Aiwanger have fallen into twilight in recent months. There was the so-called leaflet affair involving the party chairman and Bavarian Deputy Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger. During the Bavarian state election campaign, he shouted populist slogans, such as saying that the silent majority had to “take back democracy.”

Ahead of the upcoming European election campaign, the party is now trying to create a new image. At their federal party conference for the European elections, the Free Voters approved a motion against political extremism - and voted against cooperation with the AfD.

On Saturday in Bitburg, 92 percent of the more than 440 members voted for the motion that prohibits cooperation with the largely right-wing extremist party. Aiwanger strongly advocated for the ban. It should not happen that "somewhere a wild person who then goes into a coalition with the AfD under the name Free Voters (...)," said Aiwanger in his party conference speech on Saturday. "Then we're set on fire across Germany."

However, the half-life of Aiwanger's decision and warnings could be short. In any case, after the vote at the federal party conference, the State Association of Free Voters in Saxony rejected political firewalls against political opponents such as the AfD.

“No good experiences with building walls in Germany”

According to the dpa news agency, the Saxon FW boss Thomas Weidinger said they took note of this decision but did not support it. »The Free Voters in the municipalities are independent of parties and are therefore not affected by the above-mentioned decision anyway. They have successfully proven for some time that the so-called firewall is not helpful when it comes to solving concrete factual problems," he is quoted as saying. The State Association of Free Voters wants to “establish this proven approach to policy at the state level.”

more on the subject

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  • CSU tradition in Passau: Now Söder is rumbling against Aiwanger. Jan Friedmann reports from Passau

  • Honorary judges at Bavaria's Constitutional Court: CSU and Free Voters also vote for AfD candidates

According to Weidinger, they have “not had good experiences with building walls in Germany,” and “the AfD voters that we want to win back to the middle class would also disappear behind a firewall.” The motto of the FW top candidate Regarding the state elections on September 1st in Saxony, Matthias Berger said: "Before the election we don't talk to anyone, after the election we talk to everyone." The federal association's decision does not prohibit listening.

Aiwanger, on the other hand, argued that refraining from working with the AfD has been a practice among the Free Voters for years. According to a statement, the Bavarian Economics Minister said: "The clear demarcation against the AfD formulated in the application has been our line for years; for example, we do not accept former members from there."

According to a party spokesman, the federal executive board made an incompatibility decision after the 2021 federal election. The demarcation of membership will now be placed “on a broader basis”. A supplementary motion was also unanimously approved, which is intended to exclude cooperation with extreme political forces on the left and right spectrum.

The parliamentary group leader of the Free Voters in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament, Joachim Streit, was elected at the party conference as one of the five deputies of federal chairman Aiwanger. Streit received 95 percent approval from voting members. The Free Voters have around 8,400 members nationwide.

apr/dpa/AFP