By Michael Sauerbier
On Russian propaganda TV he agitated against Germany, and he called Syria’s murderous regime the “legitimate government.” Now the AfD right-winger Steffen Kotré (52) wanted to govern the Brandenburg airport district of Dahme-Spreewald. And lost the runoff election on Sunday by a landslide.
In the first round of voting, Kotré was ahead with 35.4 percent. The AfD man was unable to gain ground in the runoff election against non-party mayor Sven Herzberger: only 35.2 percent wanted to see the right-wing extremist Russia friend at the head of the district administration, and almost two thirds of voters (64.8 percent) voted for Herzberger. From the dream of the blue district office!
Herzberger was supported by all parties except the AfD. For good reason: Kotré had caused outrage with right-wing extremist speeches and Russia propaganda: once he spread fake news in the Bundestag about alleged bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine, and once he appeared on the TV show of Putin’s chief propagandist Vladimir Solovyov . An AfD parliamentary group colleague then accused Kotré of “treason”.
Until it was dissolved due to the impending ban, the Brandenburg resident belonged to the right-wing extremist Höcke wing of the AfD. Kotré’s name was found in poems with ethnic romanticism of blood and soil and on a list of supporters of the Holocaust denier Horst Mahler, who had many criminal records. He didn’t deny either.
For the AfD man, foreigners are the cause of all evil. Kotré wants to cancel all language and integration courses for refugees, which will deny them opportunities in the labor market. But they are urgently needed. Opposing candidate Herzberger already heads the Zeuthen town hall. He wants to promote the economy and public transport and build schools and daycare centers.
Embarrassing: In the Bundestag, Kotré confused Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) with his long-dead predecessor Helmut Kohl (CDU). In the talk show “Markus Lanz”, the climate change denier left out no faux pas, but left out all the facts. And in the worst hurricane, Kotré trudged with his wife and baby (1) to the closed Brocken summit in the Harz Mountains.
Kotré was not ahead in any municipality in the BER district on Sunday. For the next eight years, Sven Herzberger will govern Brandenburg’s economically strongest district. But the Democratic candidate’s victory is not without a stale aftertaste: just under half of those eligible to vote (47.9 percent) exercised their right to vote on Sunday.