Overview
- Delegates at the Hechingen party congress approved the state election program and launched a unified campaign focused on the economy, migration, and internal security.
- Campaign materials call for measures such as restricting Bürgergeld to Germans and ending the Energiewende, including opposition to the combustion engine phaseout.
- State leaders Markus Frohnmaier and Emil Sänze said the AfD could tolerate a CDU-led minority government if energy prices are lowered, deportations of those obliged to leave are enforced, and police are strengthened, with experts appointed to the cabinet.
- The CDU maintains a strict refusal to cooperate with the AfD, with candidate Manuel Hagel reiterating the party’s hard line against any collaboration.
- The gathering followed a settled dispute with the city over the venue date, drew planned protests in Hechingen, and took place as polls put the AfD around 20–21 percent, second behind the CDU.