What Does the AfD Want in Hesse, and How Strong Is It?

The AfD could make further gains in future elections, but its growing support in Hesse masks organizational weaknesses, according to Gießen political scientist Dorothée de Nève. The party currently stands at 20% to 22% in polls, even though no state election is scheduled in Hesse for now.

The state Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the AfD as a suspected far-right extremist group in 2022 and began monitoring it. The party challenged the decision in court, but without success. Both the Wiesbaden Administrative Court and the Administrative Court in Kassel ruled that the Hesse AfD could be classified as a suspected extremist group and observed by the authorities.

“

center-right

The party increased its vote share in the 2023 state election from 13.1% to 18.4%, making it the second-strongest force. In the March local elections, it more than doubled its statewide share, from 6.8% to 14.8%.

“

This success conceals the party’s weakness in its organizational structure and in local politics.

At a party congress last November, AfD state leaders Andreas Lichert and Robert Lambrou were re-elected as a joint leadership team. Lambrou said the state’s majority wanted a “center-right” government. CDU Minister-President Boris Rhein, whose party is the strongest political force in Hesse, has repeatedly ruled out cooperation with the AfD at both state and municipal level.

De Nève said the party’s electoral success concealed its weaknesses in organization and local politics. The AfD has only about one-eighth as many members as the SPD and one-sixth as many as the CDU. That weakness meant the party stood in only one in five Hesse municipalities in the latest local elections. It failed to nominate candidates even in municipalities where it had performed strongly in state or federal elections. The AfD says it has about 5,000 members in Hesse.

“

The majority in the state wants a center-right government.

Its published policy guidelines call for lower barriers to citizen initiatives, statewide suspicion-free checks to combat crimes by foreigners, and the consistent deportation of all people required to leave Germany. The party rejects the Islamic religious instruction introduced by the Hesse state government and opposes what it calls gender-neutral alterations to the German language. It also says there is no reason for “alarmism about climate change.”

“

There is no reason for alarmism about climate change.