Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the CSU strongly criticized warnings about a power grab by the AfD following the state elections in the East. Speaking to newspapers belonging to the Funke media group, he questioned the utility of such speculative scenarios, saying, “I wonder who benefits from these fantasiful speculations? Painting a phantom on the wall certainly doesn’t help”. Instead, he argued that the focus should be on doing everything possible to prevent this situation from occurring, noting that there is still sufficient potential and time for that. With elections scheduled for September, he stressed that wise political decisions could be made at any time.
This response came after Thuringia’s Interior Minister, Georg Maier of the SPD, had previously warned of a coup attempt. Maier’s warning was prompted by the announcement made by AfD top candidate Ulrich Siegmund in Saxony-Anhalt, who proposed filling 150 to 200 positions in the state administration following a victory.
Dobrindt also rejected demands from colleagues across the states that the government should take precautions to prevent security-relevant information from falling into the wrong hands should the AfD enter a government in any federal state. “I have no opinion on such a discussion. The mandate is to organize majorities without an AfD participation in government” he asserted. He questioned the persuasiveness of preparing for a hypothetical AfD single-party government.
Furthermore, Dobrindt stated that, in his view, there was no indication of serious attempts by foreign entities to influence the state elections. “There is no evidence that active manipulation of the election process is being carried out from abroad” the Minister said. However, he acknowledged that disinformation and political agitation on social media have been controlled by foreign actors for some time. Currently, he observed no intensification of this activity ahead of the state elections.
