Erlangen: AfD conceals prison sentence – and gives the Greens a seat
Volksverpetzer
The defeat of the AfD in the Bavarian local elections reveals more than just an electoral loss: scandals, legal violations, and a shocking overestimation of itself raise questions. How does the party's behavior affect its credibility and the political landscape in Germany?
This AfD failure is just too good: The AfD wanted to make a big splash in Bavaria. In the end, they didn't win a single election. No mayoral post, no district administrator, not even a runoff election was secured for them. And now, in Erlangen, there's an especially embarrassing twist: Because of a convicted AfD candidate, the Greens are gaining an additional seat in the city council.
The AfD only managed to gain one seat less:
Exactly read: because an AfD candidate in Erlangen received a prison sentence, the Greens are now getting one more seat. The background is a case that truly combines everything one needs to know about this party: negligence and a remarkably relaxed attitude towards law and order. An AfD candidate on the Erlangen city council list, Daniel Vobelt, was sentenced to more than a year in prison. This meant he was actually ineligible to run. Nevertheless, he was put forward. According to the city, he even reportedly declared in writing that he was not disqualified from voting. Which clearly was not true. This could now lead to the next criminal offense: The city is examining a criminal complaint.
Because the information from the judicial authorities only arrived shortly before the election, the name and list were already on the ballots, and postal voting was already underway. Therefore, the votes had to be recalculated retroactively. Exactly 9,900 votes were invalid. This not only disrupted the count but also the distribution of seats. And here, it becomes particularly unpleasant for the AfD: The Greens thereby gain an additional seat and now hold twelve mandates. The AfD has thus literally given away almost 10,000 votes and an entire city council seat.
AfD also fails in the rest of Bavaria
In the other Bavarian municipal elections, the failure of the right-wing extremists is also evident. They couldn't win a single post, not even qualify for a runoff election for mayor or district administrator. Yes, the AfD made gains in municipal councils and district assemblies – but they clearly failed in their goal to have the first West German district administrator from the AfD. Also, their aim to enter as many runoff elections as possible was unsuccessful. There wasn't a single one.
Even in places where the AfD's results in the 2025 federal election were particularly high, such as Dingolfing, Günzburg, Bamberg-Land, Unterallgäu, or Rosenheim district, it wasn't enough. Of course, they made significant gains compared to 2021, when they were particularly weak, mind you. But as in many other municipal elections, the AfD has nothing to offer in Bavaria either.
And in Erlangen, it now becomes clear how ridiculous this self-narrative of a great advance really is – and the promise to act competently against crime. Instead of demonstrating competence, the AfD's own personnel ensure that a city council seat goes to the political competition. Unexpectedly, CDU Secretary General Carsten Linnemann might have been right after all, when he claimed a week ago: “Whoever votes for the AfD wakes up green.”
Transparency notice/Addition 12.03.:
In an earlier version, we wrote that the previously convicted AfD candidate "must go to prison" – but we do not know whether he has already served his sentence or not. Because we confused him with a OTHER AfD candidate from Erlangen, who also received a prison sentence and will have to serve time soon. Correct: there is more than one. In fact, the Erlangen AfD list even has four individuals with prior convictions and at least eight people in total who had legal trouble. We apologize for any confusion caused.
Article image: Tupungato, shutterstock.com. Parts of the article were created with machine assistance. How Volksverpetzer uses AI.