While all eyes have been on the election results of the AfD during the latest Bavarian government election in October 2018, astoundingly little has been talked about the party “Freie Wähler” (Free Voters, FV). With 11.6% percent of the votes it could achieve a better result than the AfD, making it the 3rd biggest party in Bavaria. Why no one is talking about the FV may be due to the fact that with the exception of Bavaria the party’s election results are rather insignificant nationwide.
Following the Bavarian elections, the CSU formed a coalition with the FV in November 2018, making Hubert Aiwanger (*1971) Deputy Prime Minister of Bavaria and Minister of State for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy in the Cabinet Söder II. Furthermore, two secretaries of state, and two government delegates of the Free Voters are now part of the Bavarian government.
The party, currently led by agricultural engineer Hubert Aiwanger, was established 2009 in Würzburg, Bavaria, emerging out of an association founded in 1965, called Federal Association of Free Voters, an umbrella organization for regional associations of independent political candidates. The party propagates that instead of doing party politics, it wants to focus on “Realpolitik," on local matters, and provide a platform for local politicians.
In the past there have been sporadic reports about right-wing infiltration of the FV. For example, a
Süddeutsche article from 2013 pointed out “The head of the Free Voters attracts right-wing extremists with his populist statements against the euro rescue package.”1
There have been several reports of right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis present in some of the municipal FV offices, amongst them Thorsten Lemmer, who had received a suspended sentence for incitement, as well as Jürgen Krüger, who changed sides from the right-wing extremist Republicans to the FV in 2010.2
Although Aiwanger can be considered extremely conservative and having dictatorial allures, he seems to have a strong interest in keeping out blatant right-wing extremists from the party, since he repeatedly stated that he will not allow a right-wing usurpation of the party. Nevertheless, the FV as the AfD are “flesh of the flesh of the CSU," as a Süddeutsche article put it aptly.3
- 1Mike Szymanski, “Scharfe Kritik an Aiwangers Tonfall,” Süddeutsche, Augst 23, 2012, https://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/rechtsextreme-bei-freie-waehler-demos-scharfe-kritik-an-aiwangers-tonfall-1.1448207.
- 2"Freie Wähler: Spitzenkandidat in der Zwickmühle,” March 19, 2013. https://www.ovb-online.de/weltspiegel/bayern/freie-waehler-spitzenkandidat-zwickmuehle-2808185.html.
- 3Sebastian Beck, "Die alte CSU ist tot,” Süddeutsche, October 14, 2018, https://www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/landtagswahl-bayern-csu-kommentar-1.4169149.
