Gillamoos Political Brunch Turns Into Election Postmortem for Söder and Co.

The Gillamoos folk festival is set for its annual political morning, with attention focused on how national and state leaders will interpret the outcome of the Saxony-Anhalt state election. The event takes place Monday morning in Abensberg, Lower Bavaria.

CSU leader and Bavarian Premier Markus Söder, a regular Gillamoos speaker, will share the platform this year with another prominent CSU politician, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt. Their comments on the AfD’s performance in Saxony-Anhalt will draw particular interest. Both men have so far clearly rejected calls for proceedings to ban the party.

The AfD will hold its own rally on the Schlosswiese, a few hundred metres from the beer tents. State chairman Stephan Protschka and parliamentary group leaders Katrin Ebner-Steiner and Ulrich Singer are scheduled to speak.

The SPD expects former Labour Minister Hubertus Heil as its main speaker. Green party speakers include Bundestag member Anton Hofreiter, Bavarian chairwoman Eva Lettenbauer and parliamentary group leader Katharina Schulze. Free Voters chairman Hubert Aiwanger remains the party’s leading speaker.

Gillamoos is one of the largest and oldest folk festivals in Lower Bavaria. On the festival’s Monday, senior politicians traditionally appear almost simultaneously in several beer tents.