Rarely has a TV duel caused as much excitement and sensation as the upcoming debate between Björn Höcke and Mario Voigt. The starting position for both could hardly be more different.
The most important things at a glance
Millions of people always watch the television duels before the federal elections, and long beforehand there is speculation about what topics are at stake and who has a better chance. Even before state elections there is often a direct exchange of blows between the top candidates, although with significantly less attention. The duels then run on the third ARD programs and are of particular interest to people in the respective federal state.
But everything is different before today’s TV duel in the run-up to the state elections in Thuringia on September 1st. The debate between AfD man Björn Höcke and CDU top candidate Mario Voigt on the private channel Welt TV is being discussed across Germany and is arousing great interest. The incumbent Prime Minister and top candidate of the Left, Bodo Ramelow, is not there at all.
Rather, it is Höcke who is the head of the AfD’s right-wing wing, which only exists informally, and who has repeatedly relativized National Socialism with his statements. t-online provides an overview of the most important aspects of the TV duel.
How did the TV duel come about?
It all started with an interview by Mario Voigt in the “Welt” in which he said that Höcke wanted to let Europe die. A dispute then broke out between the two on the online platform X. There, Höcke threatened to take an injunction. Voigt responded to the attack and asserted that he was ready to dismantle the AfD’s “prosperity-threatening anti-Europe policy.” “Whether in the state parliament or in court: at any time,” he wrote – if Höcke doesn’t back down.
Höcke gratefully accepted the offer, but had another suggestion: a discussion on the concept of Europe, since both were politicians and not lawyers. Voigt can choose the format himself. He did. At the beginning of March it became public that there would be a television duel on Welt TV.
What do you need to know about Björn Höcke?
Although he has not yet held any office in the AfD or as a member of parliament outside Thuringia, Björn Höcke is one of the best-known and most influential AfD politicians. This is mainly due to his very controversial statements and his political orientation as a right-winger within the AfD.
Höcke was repeatedly proven to have contact with the right-wing extremist scene. He also puts the crimes of National Socialism into perspective and repeatedly uses vocabulary from the “Third Reich”. For example, he wants Germany to not only have a “thousand-year past,” but also “a thousand-year future.” In the course of this, he often made openly racist comments and spread conspiracy theories.
That is why Höcke has often been the subject of legal proceedings. The Meiningen administrative court, for example, allowed him to be described as a “fascist”. Next week, Höcke will be on trial in Halle for incitement to hatred. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified him as a right-wing extremist and is monitoring him. The AfD board has already initiated several party expulsion proceedings against him, but these have always been unsuccessful.
Höcke has a strong power base within the AfD. As the head of the officially dissolved “wing,” he has numerous confidants in positions of power in the AfD.
Who is Mario Voigt?
Voigt also wants to use the duel to increase his own popularity. The 47-year-old from Jena has been CDU parliamentary group leader since 2020 and was most recently in an ambiguous role in the Thuringian state parliament. On the one hand, he is the opposition leader, but on the other hand, he also works with the red-red-green minority government to ensure that laws find a majority.
Before his political career, the political scientist worked in corporate communications and often traveled to India and Singapore. He advocates de-bureaucratizing the immigration of skilled workers. He wants to defuse the debate about migration: “If everyone who expresses criticism is immediately branded as right-wing extremist, that trivializes right-wing extremism,” he told “Zeit.”
