SOLINGEN: State elections in the East! AFD tries to make political capital out of the attack

And we want to look at Eisenach in Thuringia, because this attack will also have an impact on the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony, we already noticed that last weekend . The AfD is of course trying to profit from the whole thing. Good morning, Tatyana. How do you rate that? So what role can this knife attack in Solingen actually play for these two state elections on September 1st, but also for the state elections in Brandenburg on September 22nd? Good morning, Carsten, good morning to Berlin. I think you can see it behind me, and I'll quickly venture to say: I currently have the most beautiful workplace in all of Germany, namely directly below the Wartburg. Why are we here? Because our Thuringia tour actually begins today . Different places, talk to the people here locally, but also with the top politicians, to see what is affecting Thuringians here in these last few days before the elections are held. It's the last week of the election campaign, so to speak. This afternoon we will have the opportunity to talk to the top candidate of the Left, Katja Wolf, who was the mayor of Eisenach for a long time, and then we will basically ask her what you just asked me: How she does it assesses what impact the terrorist attack in Solingen may have on the outcome of the election . If we look at concrete reactions, Mario Voigt, the CDU's top candidate, did not comment directly on Solingen in his tweets. But he always refers and links to what Friedrich Merz said about it. Björn Höcke, in turn, the top candidate of the AfD, which according to all surveys will probably emerge as the strongest force in these elections, made the following comments on Telegram: Among other things, he writes that there is no longer a safe hinterland. The immigration distribution through the Königstein key ensured this. While this seems to be working well, there are problems with the implementation of the current law when it comes to deportations. So that's a reaction from Björn Höcke, among others. And as I said, it is of course difficult to estimate at this point in time, on the Monday after the terrorist attack, what impact this will have on people's voting behavior in Thuringia, in Saxony and later in September in Brandenburg. But I don't think one should rule out the possibility that it will have an influence on voting behavior. Tatjana, if you now look at the situation in Thuringia, the latest polls show the AfD still clearly ahead of the CDU and also the Left very strongly. So is this actually a reaction to federal politics, to the bickering that the traffic lights keep showing ? I could imagine. In any case. Let's look at the left, for example, from a standing start it's very likely double digits. But there is also an election campaign here, especially by Sarah Wagenknecht. She was there on August 19th here in Eisenach, among other places. There is an election campaign with topics that you as a state politician cannot actually answer when it comes to the questions of war and peace. Sarah Wagenknecht 's big topic : Russia's attack on Ukraine, which violates international law. The argument that she always uses as a basis: that you have to speak, that you have to negotiate and, and, and. These are things that she brings up here, and of course they are well received, but they are not something that her top candidate, Katja Wolf, will actually be able to influence in any way. At a minimum, only through the Federal Council should it actually be put in such a position. So it will be very exciting to see how Thuringians will actually vote here and how big the influence will be. Many people have the thought that the traffic lights must be punished. And on the other hand, there are the very classic issues that concern people here in Thuringia. I'll say, for example, the education system, the schools and so on, the difficulties that arise due to lesson cancellations and the like. These are Things that actually move people here. The only question is: Will they vote in such a way that they then get a result that the specific problems that they may have here in their everyday lives can also be solved by the next government? Or will they vote in such a way that the frustration that they are pushing towards Berlin and the traffic lights is in the foreground? Tatjana, thank you for your classification of Thuringia. So you will be there for us all week , and we will of course closely monitor what consequences the knife attack in Solingen will have on the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony. Thanks for the moment.

Share your thoughts