“Will Boris Rhein get votes from right-wing extremists?” With this question, among other things, an election video from the SPD in Hesse is causing dissatisfaction. The top candidate stops it – but the criticism is there.
A video from the Hessian SPD about the CDU and its top candidate Boris Rhein is causing a stir just a week before the state elections.
The SPD’s top candidate, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, stopped the defamatory election video, the Berlin “Tagesspiegel” reported, citing Hesse’s SPD General Secretary Christoph Degen. Faeser instructed the party to withdraw the video previously published on Instagram.
The election campaign spot refers to a joint vote between the CDU and AfD in Thuringia and asks: “Is there a threat of such cooperation soon in Hesse too? Will Boris Rhein get votes from right-wing extremists?” The video circulated on Platform X, formerly Twitter. It was no longer visible on the SPD website. Degen could not initially be reached for a statement by the German Press Agency, nor could the spokesperson for the state party.
Reference to former CDU politician Erika Steinbach
The almost 90-second video makes reference, among other things, to the former CDU politician Erika Steinbach, who has now joined the AfD and is chairwoman of an AfD-affiliated foundation. A picture of the controversial Wetzlar CDU politician Hans-Jürgen Irmer, who is considered a right-wing extremist in his party, is also shown. He had recently given up his remaining party positions early – the chairmanship of the CDU district association Lahn-Dill and the chairmanship of the CDU district council group.
“The CDU can no longer be relied upon when it comes to the AfD,” says a female voice at the end of the video. “We guarantee that Hesse remains free of right-wing politics.” The message then appears in large white and red letters: “No black-brown cooperation.”
Faeser: “Not my style”
“That’s not my style. It’s been taken down,” said the Federal Interior Minister about the video on the sidelines of an election campaign event in Frankfurt am Main. After deleting the campaign video, she still asked Rhein to take a stand on the AfD issue. “However, we have to talk about this matter. And it would be nice if Mr. Rhein would comment on the fact that leading CDU people in Wetzlar recently met with the AfD. So it would be nice if he said something about it.”
The CDU politician Armin Laschet criticized the video on The fact that Faeser and the SPD acted like this against “Walter Lübcke’s party” is humanly disappointing and unforgivable. The federal managing director of the Green Party, Emily Büning, described the video as “at least questionable”.
Source: Stern
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