The announcement of a debate between “Voigt”, the candidate of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU), and the candidate of the Alternative Party (AfD), “Höcke”, candidates for the municipality of “Hogen”, sparked widespread controversy, especially with regard to refugees. The debate is supposed to take place on the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps next April, and it is the debate called for by the candidate of the Christian Democratic Union,
The Interior Minister, Georg Maier, from the Christian Democratic Party, called for the debate to be canceled, and the head of the Left Party, Christian Schaft, agreed with him. The Interior Minister considered the debate, scheduled for April 11 on a news channel, to be an opportunity to distort democracy in Germany. The left believes that this debate gives right-wing extremists a platform, and that “anti-democracy people should not be invited to the political show.” It considers that anyone who provides extremists with a platform supports their incitement.
Benjamin-Immanuel, the left-leaning State Counselor, told the “Special” website that the debate is a slap in the face to the thousands who demonstrated against right-wing extremism for democracy. In the same context, the left-wing leader Schaft wrote, “Anyone who offers the fascist Höcke a platform on the same day of liberation the concentration camps in Thuringia, Buchenwald and Mittelbau, either ignores the history of Thuringia, or shows that to him ego is more important.” Henfling, a Green politician, also accused the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of raising the level of right-wing extremism, because of the party’s candidate invitation to Höcke to the debate, and because the party referred to Höcke as a normal political opponent.
In response to the criticism that targeted the Democratic Union Party, the managing director of the party’s parliamentary group, Andreas Bühl, defended that it is important to highlight Höcke and expose the content of the Alternative for Germany party instead of avoiding a realistic debate, and that April 11 is the appropriate day to warn of the possibility that Germany be led by extremist ideas.
It is known that Höcke, the candidate of the Alternative for Germany party, is one of the rightwingers who are against refugees and immigrants in Germany, and calls for their expulsion from Germany.
