Höcke offers Wagenknecht the Thuringia premiership, and she refuses

Björn Höcke, leader of the AfD in Thuringia and one of the most radical figures in the party led nationally by Alice Weidel, has proposed that Sahra Wagenknecht become the state's next head of government. "I extend my hand to you. Become minister-president of the free state," he wrote in a post on X.

Wagenknecht leads the BSW, the formation that combines left-wing economic positions with conservative stances on ethical and migration issues. Höcke's offer comes after weeks in which the movement's founder has signalled openness towards the AfD, arguing that the cordon sanitaire around the party is counterproductive and undemocratic. In recent days Wagenknecht also made clear that she will not support the CDU in Saxony-Anhalt in September.

The refusal and the counter-offer

The answer came in Bild and was unambiguous. "The office of minister-president of Thuringia is not a trophy that Mr Höcke can award as he pleases. His proposal is neither honest nor serious," said the former Left party figure, who countered by calling for an electoral contest ahead of the vote.

Internationally, Wagenknecht calls for sanctions against Russia to be lifted and for aid to Kyiv to stop. It is one of the points where BSW and AfD positions converge, and one reason why the prospect of the two parties drawing closer is being followed attentively outside Germany as well.

The offer comes at a difficult moment for the current head of the regional government, Christian Democrat Mario Voigt. Chemnitz University of Technology has rejected the appeal he lodged against the withdrawal of his doctorate, awarded for a thesis at the centre of a plagiarism case. After the university's decision, Höcke and the AfD announced they intend to table a further constructive vote of no confidence against him.

Thuringia is the state where the AfD polls highest and where Höcke has repeatedly been at the centre of court proceedings and of disputes over his political language. Any majority as an alternative to the CDU would in any case depend on the arithmetic of the state parliament, and none of those involved has so far indicated that they have it.