SPD-Wahlkampfplakat in Frankfurt am Main: Hessen wählt am 8. Oktober den Landtag neu
Foto: Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP
Ein Video der hessischen SPD hat sich zum Wahlkampf-Eigentor entwickelt. Es thematisiert eine Landtagsabstimmung in Thüringen, bei der CDU, AfD und FDP gemeinsam stimmten. »Droht eine solche Kooperation bald auch in Hessen?«, heißt es im Video, und weiter: »Wird sich Boris Rhein von Rechtsextremen Stimmen besorgen?«
Minister President Rhein will run as the lead candidate for the CDU in the Hessen election on October 8th, while Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser will represent the SPD. It seems that Faeser found the spot too controversial, which is why she withdrew it on Friday. This was first reported by the Berlin „Tagesspiegel,“ citing Hessen’s SPD Secretary-General Christoph Degen.
According to the report, it is unclear whether Faeser had previously approved the video. „We have removed the discussed video from our channels. The style of the video can be debated,“ Degen quoted by the „Tagesspiegel“. „Therefore, we will not distribute it any further.“
The video had already been published on Instagram and is now circulating on other social media platforms. It is no longer visible on SPD accounts. Degen could not be reached for a statement by the news agency, nor could spokespersons from the state party and Faeser. In polls, the SPD is far behind the leading CDU and is competing with the Greens and AfD to become the second strongest party.
Rhein in einer Reihe mit Höcke, Weidel und Gauland
In the short video of about one and a half minutes, the focus is mainly on the CDU and their lead candidate Rhein. The spot presents him alongside AfD politicians Björn Höcke, Alice Weidel, and Alexander Gauland. It also mentions former CDU politician Erika Steinbach, who has now joined the AfD and is the chairperson of an AfD-affiliated foundation.
Also shown is an image of the controversial Wetzlar CDU politician Hans-Jürgen Irmer, who is considered right-wing within his party. He recently resigned from his remaining party positions – the chairmanship of the CDU district association Lahn-Dill and the chairmanship of the CDU district council faction. „The CDU cannot 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 from right-wing politics.“ In large white and red letters, it then says: „No black-brown cooperation.“
The CDU politician Armin Laschet, the Union’s candidate for chancellor in 2021, criticized the video on X. He wrote that the lesson from the Weimar Republic is that democrats must stand together against the danger from the right and not defame each other. He found it humanly disappointing and unforgivable that Faeser and the SPD acted against „the party of Walter Lübcke“. The Hessian CDU politician Walter Lübcke was shot by the right-wing extremist Stephan Ernst in 2019.
Even the Greens criticized the SPD video. Federal Managing Director Emily Büning described it as „at least questionable“.
This is not the first mishap in Faeser’s election campaign. Recently, her party organized a boat trip with the lead candidate, for which only female journalists were supposed to be sent by the press. Prior to that, the party had already admitted and corrected an embarrassing mistake in their election program.
Rhein hatte vor knapp eineinhalb Jahren die Führung der schwarz-grünen Landesregierung von seinem Vorgänger Volker Bouffier übernommen. Er hat gute Chancen, das Amt weiter ausüben zu können, auch wenn er eher unbekannt ist: Gut ein Fünftel der Wählerinnen und Wähler in Hessen können mit seinem Namen nichts anfangen.