In the eye of the protection of the constitution: AfD Saxony becomes a suspected case

Monday, February 01, 2021

In the eye of the protection of the constitution
AfD Saxony becomes a suspected case

In several federal states, the AfD is already in the sights of the constitutional protectors. According to media reports, the state association in Saxony is now also a suspected case and could therefore be monitored. Federal party leader Chrupalla sees this as an "electoral maneuver".

According to information from the German Press Agency, the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV) in Saxony now leads the AfD as a suspected case. The "Bild" had previously reported on it. This would allow the party to be monitored by intelligence means, such as telephone monitoring or the use of undercover agents. There has not yet been a confirmation from the State Office. The authority had previously indicated that her hands were tied on this point.

According to the Saxon Constitutional Protection Act, both the Ministry of the Interior and the LfV may only provide information about proven extremist efforts. In contrast to the federal government and some federal states, public communication about classifications to test or suspected cases is not permitted by law in Saxony, the state office had declared last week. The "Bild" newspaper had given "the environment" of the LfV as the source.

"Election tactical maneuver"

So far there has been no reaction from the AfD regional association. The AfD federal chairman and Saxon member of the Bundestag Tino Chrupalla spoke of a "tactical election maneuver". He said: "The protection of the constitution and the state government are only concerned with discrediting the AfD as the largest opposition party in Saxony in political competition." The citizens in the Free State are able to recognize this.

The AfD in Saxony is the largest opposition party. It has around 2,600 members. In the 2017 federal election, it was the strongest force with 27.0 percent, even ahead of the CDU. In the 2019 state elections, she landed in second place with 27.5 percent.

The Thuringian AfD was the first state association of the party to be observed by the protection of the constitution with intelligence means. Its chairman is Björn Höcke, the founder of the "wing", which has formally dissolved in the meantime and which the constitution protection has classified as "proven right-wing extremist tendencies".

The AfD Brandenburg has also been classified as a suspected case since June 2020, and the state association in Saxony-Anhalt has recently also been spied on using intelligence services according to dpa information.