Citizens in anger: AfD gets competition from Bremen

The alternative to the alternative in Bremen is anger: Since the AfD was not admitted to the state elections in Bremen on Sunday, the right-wing populist party benefits “citizens in anger“ (BIW) to a not inconsiderable extent. The party is no stranger to the republic’s smallest state, but its new strength could also have national political implications.

“The name not only sounds radical, BIW is also radical and by to the rightThis is how the emeritus party researcher Lothar Probst describes the orientation of BIW to this editorial team. “This is a voters’ association that moves on the extreme right of the democratic constitutional arc,” says Probst, who sees BIW as a right-wing conservative party that likes to use right-wing populist rhetoric. “In this respect, BIW moves somewhere between the more bourgeois-oriented and the extreme right wing within the AfD.”

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Bremen election: AfD was not allowed

Die AfD however, is not permitted to vote on this Sunday. The reason for this is a quarreling state association that submitted two competing lists of candidates that the state election committee did not allow. Urgent applications by the AfD against this decision failed in court, so the party will not be listed on the Bremen ballot papers on Sunday.

In this respect, for some time it looked like there would be a manageable number of factions that would be represented in the Bremen Parliament – especially since the FDP had so far scratched the five percent hurdle. The youngest Survey according to the Wahlen research group, however, the Liberals could reach six percent. The SPD, with incumbent Andreas Bovenschulte, who wants to continue his party’s 77-year claim to power in Bremen, has 30 percent, the CDU 27 percent, the Greens 13 percent and the Left Party nine percent.

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BIW: chances of success in Bremen and Bremerhaven

BIW is now also at nine percent. In 2007, the party founder and former federal policeman Jan Timke entered the Bremen Parliament for the first time with the votes from Bremerhaven. This was made possible by a special feature of the Bremen electoral law. Because separate regulations apply in Bremen and Bremerhaven five percent hurdles.

He and ex-AfD member Piet Leidreiter, who works for Bremen as BIW top candidate competes, in the election on Sunday, which is not least due to the departure of the AfD. “They more or less suck up the voter potential of the AfD,” says Probst. During the election campaign, the voters’ association focused on fighting crime and driving in contrast to the Greens’ transport policy. “Like many other municipalities, Bremen has a problem with crime in certain areas, such as drugs around the train station,” says Probst. BIW jumps on felt fears and lures voters who do not feel represented by a “big city CDU”.

Added to this is the special feature of Bremerhaven, where top candidate Timke has managed since the party was founded to “make angry citizens their own brand – who are angry at the failure of politics or the other parties.” The city with 113,600 inhabitants is of high importance unemployment, social problems and a lot of vacancies in the city center. “Then there is also the fact that the people of Bremerhaven often feel like second-class citizens in relation to Bremen,” says Probst. The party researcher in Bremerhaven observes a “strong continuity in the election of right-wing parties, across social upheavals and generational changes”. “It’s actually an amazing phenomenon.”

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Bremen: Election victory could awaken federal political ambitions

But the AfD-Aus and a suitable breeding ground for protest voters are not the only reason why BIW is so prominent in the election campaign. Because an announced merger with “Bündnis Deutschland” and cash flows enable BIW to position itself broadly for the state elections. The right-wing party “Bündnis Deutschland” is not running in the elections, but is financing BIW with a six-digit figure, as Timke announced at the beginning of the year.

The “Bündnis Deutschland” is probably not an unselfish move, as Probst analyzes that it could make a name for itself with the entry of BIW into parliamentary group strength in the citizenship at federal level. For those fed up with the internal squabbles of the AfD or the right wing under Björn crouch If they had, Alliance Germany could “become a catchment basin – I can imagine that.”

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