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German CDU faces backlash after teaming with AfD in local election scandal

A small-town election deal between CDU and AfD councillors ignites a national debate. Could this be the tip of a growing political iceberg?

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German CDU faces backlash after teaming with AfD in local election scandal

BIEBESHEIM AM RHEIN – After a joint vote with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Biebesheim am Rhein municipal council, the CDU's Groß-Gerau district association has launched expulsion proceedings against the members involved. The party described the move as an "clearly spontaneous and uncoordinated" action. "We have an unequivocal incompatibility resolution from 2018, which was reaffirmed in 2020 following the murder of Dr. Walter Lübcke. This decision is not up for debate," CDU district chairman Stefan Sauer stated on Friday. He added that "further measures" were also under consideration.

Hesse CDU Secretary-General Leopold Born backed the decision, telling the German Press Agency (dpa) that it was right to act "immediately and decisively" at the local level.

Earlier, CDU and AfD representatives had submitted a joint list of candidates for the election of voluntary deputy mayors, as reported by the Darmstadt Echo. The list served as a counterproposal to the shared slate from the SPD, Greens, and Free Voters. Together, these three parties hold 17 seats on the 31-member council of the 6,000-resident municipality. After the CDU initially included candidates from other factions without their consent—apparently to secure the position of first deputy mayor—the session was temporarily adjourned.

Cooperation with the AfD is not uncommon

Following the break, the two parties agreed on a proposed list, through which the AfD candidate Bernd Kahnert was elected to the municipal executive board. According to the Echo, CDU faction leader Ulrich Harth had openly aimed to secure a deputy mayor post for his party. The CDU holds eight seats on the council, while the AfD has six.

Despite the CDU's formal incompatibility resolutions, joint votes with the AfD at the local level occur regularly. A study by the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) found that in nearly 19 percent of some 5,000 substantive votes between mid-2019 and mid-2024, there was "direct cooperation" with the far-right party. Such collaboration was defined as cases where at least one-tenth of representatives from other parties supported the AfD's proposals. The study noted that non-affiliated councilors and members of smaller parties were the most likely to cooperate with the AfD.

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