Seven Alternative für Deutschland politicians died within two weeks of each other before local elections, prompting party leaders to hint at foul play.

Five direct AfD candidates and two reserve candidates in North Rhine-Westphalia died within 14 days of each other, according to Welt.

Wolfgang Seitz’s death at 59 was announced on Aug. 21; the city of Blomberg announced the “unfortunate death” of 66-year-old Ralph Lange on Aug. 27; the city of Bad Lippspringe said 59-year-old Stefan Berendes “died unexpectedly” on Aug. 28; and the city of Schwerte announced that Wolfgang Klinger, 71, died “unexpectedly” on Aug. 19, according to Newsweek. Kay Gottschalk, deputy state chairman of the AfD’s North Rhine-Westphalia branch, confirmed the deaths of direct candidate Hans-Joachim Kind, 80, and reserve candidates René Herford and Patrick Tietze to Politico on Tuesday.

In a Tuesday interview with WELT TV, Gottschalk pushed back on speculation that foul play was afoot.

“We will, of course, investigate these cases with the necessary sensitivity and care,” he said, adding that there was “no indication” that the deaths were the result of “murder or anything similar.”

Gottschalk stressed that some of the dead “have pre-existing medical conditions.” He called for a careful investigation “without immediately getting into conspiracy theory territory.”

Police told DPA news agency that the first six deaths were either from natural causes or the cause wasn’t being divulged to preserve family privacy.

Despite his distancing from speculation of any possible nefarious demise, several AfD leaders openly called foul play.

AfD co-chairwoman Alice Weidel reposted a post from retired economist Stefan Homburg, who said the deaths were “statistically almost impossible.”

X owner Elon Musk also boosted his comments.

The deaths prompted affected cities to invalidate early votes and scramble to reprint ballots before the Sept. 14 elections.

The deaths come as the AfD sees a surge in the polls, with North Rhine-Westphalia representing one of its fastest-growing areas in western Germany. The 18-million-person state has seen the AfD grow from a measly 5.4% in May 2022 polls, the time of the last state elections, to a hefty 16.8% in the February elections, the BBC reported.

Shortly after the February elections, which gave the AfD its best results yet, the AfD began polling as the most popular party in Germany. It came second in the February federal elections with 20.8% of the vote, taking 152 seats in the 630-seat Bundestag.

Its growing popularity comes as every mainstream party rules out joining it in a government coalition. Every party to the left of the AfD has decried it as an extremist group and a threat to democracy.

AFD BECOMES MOST POPULAR PARTY IN GERMANY FOR FIRST TIME

The exact label of the AfD Party is itself a source of controversy. Left-wing critics openly accuse it of being a neo-Nazi group. The party has consistently rejected the “far-right” label, with its leaders saying the party stands for “the liberal democratic order and has nothing to do with this suspected neo-Nazi grouping.”

Other analysts take a more nuanced view, painting the party as a coalition of broadly right-wing ideological factions. Musk has characterized AfD policies as “identical to those of the US Democratic Party when Obama took office.”


Link

Nothing to see here citizen, keep moving...

quote:

AfD co-chairwoman Alice Weidel reposted a post from retired economist Stefan Homburg, who said the deaths were “statistically almost impossible.”

Statistically improbable, perhaps.

But that argument might be more compelling if these candidates weren't all 60+ years old with pre-existing health conditions. That swings it much further away from "impossible".

I heard the other day that it was three or four. Now it's up to seven? Yeah...nothing hinky going on there.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

AfD co-chairwoman Alice Weidel reposted a post from retired economist Stefan Homburg, who said the deaths were “statistically almost impossible.”

Statistically improbable, perhaps.

But that argument might be more compelling if these candidates weren't all 60+ years old with pre-existing health conditions. That swings it much further away from "impossible".

OK, not impossible... but... very unlikely.
The gut reaction is similar to all of the people in the Clinton orbit... who met a similar fate.

From an article linked in the linked article (got that?):
…
In addition to the six already known cases, there is now Hans-Joachim Kind, a direct candidate in Kremenholl, a district in the south of Remscheid. This was confirmed by the AfD Remscheid to the news magazine "Politico".

The 80-year-old died of a natural death after a long illness.
…
North Rhine-Westphalia's Ministry of the Interior announced that candidates from other parties and voters' associations had also died after their formation. As of Monday, a spokesman for the state election officer had spoken of six deaths in parties other than the AfD.
…

I'm all for a good conspiracy but don't the advanced ages of those people may have something to do with it? I'm sure a good number of people in their age range die every day. That they all belong to the same party would probably be the same if they all lived in the same apartment building.

Running for office can be physically demanding on the body and will take its toll on you.

Being 66...67 next month and in pretty darn good health, I hate to think they are in such "advanced age".

Sure, it depends on the person. But for every fit and hale 70-something, I can show you one or more 60-something in poor health.

It's also telling that when a guy in his 40s-50s drops from a heart attack or other natural causes it's "Oh, he was too young", but when they're in their 60s-70s it's usually more like "Well, he had a good run".

Dying of natural causes in your late 50s, 60s, and 70s is not abnormal.

These are municipal elections in Northrhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous (19 million) state. There are about 20,000 positions to be filled in municipal and county councils, mayorships etc., and naturally there's a multiple of that number in candidates; the Christian Democrats as the biggest party alone fielded 25,000. I'm sure the AfD isn't far behind, and definitely in the five-figure range.

At last count, a minimum of 16 candidates from at least seven parties and local groups have died during the race. There might be more; organization rests with municipalities, and they're not required to report such cases to the state returning officer which would be a convenient single point of information. As it is, once the reports of the first four AfD deaths started making the rounds, media started combing the weeds, and the total quickly rose to ten, then 14, to the current number.

With seven out of 16, the AfD is still overrepresented, though there are a number of possible explanations. Maybe they're just better connected, and definitely more likely to suspect conspiracies, so their deaths are better known. Maybe they fielded a disproportionate share of older, less healthy guys who are always outraged about something and thirty seconds away from a heart attack every waking moment. Maybe it's just a statistical fluke. Some nefarious scheme to kill half a dozen out of 10,000-plus candidates so they don't get to sit on the town council is probably one of the less likely possibilities.

quote:

Originally posted by BansheeOne:
Some nefarious scheme to kill half a dozen out of 10,000-plus candidates so they don't get to sit on the town council is probably one of the less likely possibilities.

... Nah.

I'm sticking with it being a joint wetwork operation between the underground Stasi 2.0 and the Illuminati.

It's the only reasonable explanation.