Gillamoos festival: Markus Söder says AfD has mandate to form government

Markus Söder says the AfD has won more than an election in Saxony-Anhalt. In his view, the result gives the party a mandate to try to form a government. What it does with that mandate now remains to be seen.

“

I am firmly convinced that the AfD has no concept for leading our country out of crises.

The Bavarian minister president called the AfD’s victory a “turning point” and a “powerful vote,” but said he was convinced the party had no plan for leading Germany out of its crises. He also rejected both cooperation with the party, which is classified as definitely far-right, and the political firewall designed to keep it isolated. Instead, he said the AfD must be challenged on substance.

Söder used the result to rally the CSU in Bavaria. “I will not leave Bavaria to the AfD,” he promised. At the Gillamoos festival in Abensberg, Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the Saxony-Anhalt election as a “political earthquake.” He said not every AfD voter was a radical, arguing that worries, fears and frustration had influenced people’s decisions.

“

I will not leave Bavaria to the AfD.

Dobrindt said the CSU and the wider conservative Union were responsible for restoring the political center. He called for lower energy costs and relief for tradespeople and the self-employed, while opposing new social benefits and greater redistribution. Migration and security, he said, would be decisive issues for Germany’s future.

“

Saxony-Anhalt has experienced a political earthquake.

The Gillamoos morning event is one of Bavaria’s major political gatherings, where politicians address supporters in a deliberately rustic beer-tent setting. The AfD won 43.8 percent in Sunday’s Saxony-Anhalt state election, a record result.

“

People want decisions that reward performance again.