AfD members in North Rhine‑Westphalia employ a noticeably higher proportion of staff compared with members of all other parliamentary groups combined. On average, an AfD member in the state parliament has 8.5 staff, while members of other parties average fewer than five. According to T‑Online, citing the Düsseldorf parliamentary administration, the twelve AfD legislators employ almost twice as many people as the twelve FDP representatives – 102 versus 56. One individual AfD state lawmaker reportedly has 15 staff members.
Parliamentarians in North Rhine‑Westphalia can draw up to €10,208 from a discretionary fund to hire personal staff. The AfD’s average staff count is already close to that of their federal‑parliament counterparts (8.9), whereas Bundestag deputies have access to a budget that exceeds €26,650-more than twice as much.
The AfD’s state parliamentary group in North Rhine‑Westphalia defended the large number of employees. A spokesperson explained that the staffing model is organized more around tasks than around individual personnel and therefore spreads across several part‑time and temporary positions.
The staff roles are intentionally carried out alongside the members’ full‑time duties. In the AfD the belief is that the workload cannot be adequately met by a small number of individuals with uniform quality, but rather by several specialists who each focus intensively on particular policy areas.
The party is currently embroiled in a nationwide “cronyism” scandal that began in Saxony‑Anhalt and has expanded to involve representatives at both the federal and state level. Allegations state that MPs are frequently employed by partners and close relatives of other legislators.
In the Magdeburg state parliament employee figures appear even higher. A list from the Saxony‑Anhalt parliamentary administration, cited by taz, shows that the 23 AfD deputies employ 162 staff members. For comparison, the CDU, with 40 members almost twice as many, employs 125 staff; the SPD employs 28, the Left 21, the FDP 20, and the Greens nine.
