Overview
- The initiative Taktisch Wählen, run by the agency Goodforces, offers voters postcode-specific advice on which party to give their second vote to in order to prevent the AfD from winning an absolute majority of Landtag seats.
- Late August reporting says the campaign claims heavy engagement with about 250,000 site visits, more than 100,000 recommendation requests and roughly 30,000 doors knocked but these figures have not been independently verified.
- Germany’s two-vote system makes the second vote decisive for seat distribution because parties must clear a five‑percent threshold to be included in seat allocation, so parties below that mark effectively boost the share of seats for those above it.
- Parties and experts are sharply divided: the Greens welcome the effort, the AfD and some rivals call it improper, the FDP labels it misleading, and political scientists warn polls near five percent can become self‑fulfilling and sway tactical choices.
- The outcome now hinges on small parties clearing five percent and on mobilizing undecided and non-voters before the 6 September election, a dynamic that could determine whether tactical switching prevents or enables an AfD seat majority.